HOTD Season 2: World of the DEAD
by Adjacent to Addiction
Summary: Team Takashi are still searching for their families. Hisashi's sister has some talent to contribute, and Takashi's messy love life only gets more confusing. It's impossible to avoid fights with the undead all the time, and luck only lasts so long. Can the group confront their past as well as their present? Their fight is far from over. Takashi/Saeko, Saya/Kohta, Latent Rei/OC
1. Prologue: Remembering the DEAD

"Takashi!"

Komuro turned to see his best friend running toward him, tears sliding down his face. He was waving his arms and running haphazardly, as if he kept bumping into people who weren't there.

"Hisashi!" he exclaimed, surprised to see the normally down-to-earth Hisashi in such a state. "What's wro-"

He was cut off as Hisashi barreled into him, knocking him over and sending the two boys flying. They landed in a heap, and Takashi's head banged hard against the ground.

"Ow!"

Takashi heaved Hisashi off him, and sat up clutching his head in his hands. "Ow, ow, ow! Dammit Hisashi, what are you doing?"

Hisashi's eyes widened, and his hands went to his mouth. He looked at Komuro in horror.

"You said a bad word! I'm telling!"

Takashi jumped up in surprise.

"That wasn't a bad word!"

"Yes it was!"

"No it wasn't!"

"Yes it _was!_"

The two boys stood facing each other, chests heaving, hands balled at their sides. Suddenly Hisashi burst out laughing. "Ahahaha!"

"Eh? Hisashi?"

Suddenly, Takashi was being embraced by his best friend. Hisashi's short arms were wrapped firmly around his back, and Komuro was too surprised to do anything but laugh. "Geez, Hisashi, what's gotten into you?"

Hisashi pulled back, and looked at the ground. Takashi was surprised to find the front of his shirt was a bit wet.

_Oh yeah, he was crying…_

"Hisashi…?"

Hisashi took a deep breath, but it sounded more like a gulp. When he spoke, his voice came out in a low whisper. He sounded incredibly sad. It was very un-Hisashi like.

"My mum's gone away."

Takashi didn't get it. Why was that such a big deal?

"Where's she going?"

"I don't know."

"When's she coming back?"

"I don't know."

Takashi let out an annoyed sigh. "Geez, what _do _you know?"

Hisashi shrugged, and looked up. "My parents are always really nice to me, but sometimes I hear them yelling. Then last night I saw them fighting. And… and my mum hit my dad. Really, really hard!"

Komuro's eyes widened, and he gasped. "No way!"

Hisashi nodded sullenly. "What should I do?"

"I dunno… I don't really know much about parent stuff. Mine are always nice I guess."

"Yeah, well, they're always nice to me, which is why I don't get it…"

Takashi made a distressed noise in the back of his throat. He hated to see his best friend like this. He was obviously really upset.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "Let's go play ball! We can figure out what to do about your parents later, alright?"

Hisashi looked surprised, before his face split into a wide grin. The young seven year old nodded enthusiastically.

"Sure!"

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

**Prologue: Remembering the DEAD**

* * *

"Really? Really truly?"

Rei grinned and nodded.

"Hai!"

Takashi grinned foolishly. Rei was going to marry him! He couldn't wait to be grown up!

His mouth dropped open in a comical 'o' of surprise. He couldn't tell Hisashi about this. What with his mum leaving him and his dad, he didn't want Hisashi to think things were _too _great for him.

Suddenly, he became aware of the setting sun. The slowly darkening light lit up the park in a golden orange, and the sun that glinted of the playground was bearable to look at. Rei's hair was just the colour of the autumn leaves. She was really, really pretty.

Takashi's goofy grin faded as he realised what the setting sun meant. His mum was expecting him at home soon!

"Gomen, Rei-chan!"

"Huh?" Rei's beaming face adopted an expression of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I have to go!" Takashi started to run away, before turning and waving to Rei. She giggled and waved back. He started to run again, but turned and waved once more. Rei laughed.

"Aw, come on! I'll still be here tomorrow!"

Takashi beamed.

"Sweet!" He punched the air triumphantly before quickly running away to stop himself from turning back again.

His feet pounded the familiar streets as he tried to get home as quickly as possible. He wanted to stay in his mum's good books. Takashi frowned a little as he thought of his mum – he wondered what it was like for Hisashi, seeing as he didn't have a mum anymore. She had left about half a year ago now, and as far as he knew Hisashi hadn't talked to her since.

He shook his head to clear his mind. He would go over to Hisashi's place tomorrow and play with him to keep him company.

Takashi grinned at his masterful plan – Hisashi would be thrilled!

He ran to his doorstep, and kicked off his shoes as he stepped through the door.

"I'm home, mum!"

* * *

Two young teenagers walked together through the school grounds. One looked to be the picture of punctuality – his jacket was done up to the top button, his hair was neatly arranged, and he hoisted his bag high, throwing his shoulders back as he strolled through the grounds.

His friend, however, was not so punctual. His uniform was un-ironed, and his hair was tousled, certainly not complying with the school's hair policy code. His bag was slung casually over one shoulder, and he took idle sips from his carton of orange juice as he looked at a group of girls clustered nearby.

The more uniform of the two frowned at his laid back friend.

"Geez, Takashi, you should stand up straighter. You'll do terrible things to your back otherwise."

Takashi waved his juice box in the air dismissively. "We're all gonna turn out to be crusty old prunes anyway, why resist the inevitable?" he explained with the air of talking to someone with an IQ of under 40.

Hisashi chuckled. "Honestly…" he shook his head, still laughing. The pair walked in silence for a few meters before he spoke up again.

"Hey, did I tell you about Romi?"

Takashi shook his head. "Your step-mum? What about her?"

Hisashi's dad had gotten married three years after his first wife left him to a woman called Romi. Takashi could count the times he'd seen her on one hand, but she'd seemed really nice when he had. He knew Hisashi liked her anyway. She had been really nice to him, and had helped fill the motherly position that Hisashi had missed. Not that he'd ever complained. That wasn't really Hisashi's style.

"Well, her daughter is coming to live with us."

Takashi blinked in surprise.

"No kidding. What's her name?"

"Miyuki Arakawa. She's our age, but I haven't met her before. She's moving in by the end of the week."

Takashi choked on his juice, spitting it out. "No way! Why so soon?"

Hisashi's face darkened. "Romi didn't give me too many details – she said that if I really wanted to know, I'd have to ask her myself. But she did tell me that her dad died."

"Oh."

There was a short silence, before Takashi spoke up. "Well, you're going to have to give her a warm welcome. Is she going to come to this school?"

"No, she's going to Tetsuya middle school, and then Tetsuya high."

A great sucking noise came from Takashi's juice container as he finished the last dredges of fruity goodness. He tossed the carton into a nearby bin before replying:

"Tetsuya? Why is she going to the sister school instead of coming here?"

Hisashi shrugged.

"I don't know. My guess is she wants to start afresh. Maybe she just doesn't want to see me all the time."

Takashi punched his friend in the arm. "Please, she's lucky to have you as an older brother! She's going to be just fine with you watching over her."

His comment apparently surprised Hisashi, because he couldn't seem to find any words. He finally grinned, and punched Takashi back.

"I could say the same for you!"

Takashi laughed. "Haha, yeah, I've always thought it would be cool to have a brother or sister. Someone to boss around and all that."

"Yeah… me too."

Their wistful moment was interrupted by a high pitched shout.

"Hey, Takashi!"

The two best friends turned to see Rei running towards them, waving. Takashi gulped, and a small blushed tinged his cheeks at the sight of her. She may only be 14, but her… breasts… were already pretty big, and they bounced as she ran enthusiastically.

She was on his mind a lot these days – he kept thinking about the moment in the park all those years ago when Rei promised to marry him when they were older. He had been so excited – but he was still looking for the opportunity to make a move on her.

He _really _didn't want to screw up his relationship with her, and he had no idea how to go about dating her. The whole thing was foreign to him. So he kept putting it off, never expanding their relationship past former declarations of commitment and constant teasing.

As Takashi thought to himself, the girl in question came to a halt a few meters from them, panting slightly.

"Ehh, and Hisashi too!" Rei smiled at Hisashi, who seemed surprisingly perplexed, as he bumbled and rubbed the back of his head, an uncharacteristic move on his part.

"Wow Rei, out of shape much?" Takashi teased, referring to her out of breath state.

Rei reared up in indignation. "Hey! Watch who you're calling out of shape you lazy oaf!"

Takashi wailed dramatically, raising his hand to his head in a display of mock agony. "The words! They burn! I'm melting because of their ferocity!"

Rei _Tch_ed, and turned her attention to Hisashi. Takashi slowly dropped to the floor, and Rei could hear him calling out about evil witches sapping his will to live. She ignored him, and spoke up.

"Ah, sorry about that. I worry about his sense of humor sometimes."

Hisashi chuckled agreeably. "Did you have a message for him? I might need to pass it on for you…"

They both turned to look at Takashi, who was now curled up in a ball, holding his chest, and badly reciting a passage from the play they were currently studying, _Macbeth._

Rei snorted. "That's alright, I guess I'll just have to talk to him some other time. Honestly, he can be so difficult to talk to sometimes. He's really indecisive…"

"Takashi's a good guy. He listens when you really need it."

Rei was looking at Hisashi with interest, before a warm smile settled on her face.

"Thanks, Hisashi. Well anyway, if I can't get through to Takashi, then I guess I'll go. Work to catch up on and stuff." Hisashi nodded in an understanding way, and cast a despairing look at Takashi.

"Looks like I've got a job on my hands too."

Rei laughed and tried to hide it behind her hand, but failed. She waved.

"Ja ne, Hisashi-san!"

She turned and quickly walked away, leaving Takashi on the ground in the fetal position.

"Bye, Rei-san," Hisashi said quietly.

All of a sudden, Takashi snapped out of his craze, and looked after Rei with a sharp gaze. He climbed to his feet grumbling all the way.

"Wow, she could have said goodbye at least."

"I think you were beyond all hearing, Takashi."

Komuro looked at his friend with a troubled expression before shoving his hands deep into his pockets and walking away.

"Come on, we're going to be late now."

Hisashi shook his head and walked after his friend. What would he do without him?

* * *

** H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

* * *

He couldn't believe this.

Rei… and… _Hisashi?_

His best friend was going out with the love of his life, and there wasn't anything he could do about it!

_How could she just tell me like that? Hasn't she got any moral values at all?_

Takashi sat in the middle of the near-empty classroom, staring disbelievingly at the figure of Rei in the doorway. She was holding the frame and looking away from him, avoiding his gaze.

"Why didn't you tell me? You never even hinted that something was wrong between us."

Rei bit her lip. "Takashi… I-"

"So, was that promise all for nothing then?"

His voice was hollow, empty of any emotion except a slowly building anger.

Rei turned in anger, eyes flashing.

"I made that promise when I was seven! _Seven, _Takashi! How can you still hold on to that promise now, ten years later? Takashi, I'm _seventeen, _and I've never had a boyfriend because _you _never made a move!"

"How is that my fault? If you'd wanted a relationship, you could have easily started it yourself!"

Rei's face darkened. "That's not what I wanted."

Takashi chuckled darkly, hands balled on the table in front of him. "Ahh, I get it. You want a knight on a horse, riding in and sweeping you off your feet, right? Well sorry, but the world doesn't work like that."

"Well, Hisashi fits that description pretty well if you ask me." Rei's voice was as cruel as her words, and Takashi's head jerked up in response. His eyes narrowed in anger.

"Don't get this confused, Rei. Hisashi isn't the one I'm angry at. I… I never even told him how I felt about you. _You're _the one who-"

"_Then how is this anyone's fault except your own?"_

Takashi's eyes widened. He made an angry noise and stood up.

"What have I ever done to turn you away? I listen to you all the time. I tried to help you, even when you failed the year!"

He trailed off. The phrase _'If looks could kill'_ ran through his mind. Rei looked like she seriously wanted to hit him. Hard. With a sledgehammer.

"Geez…" Takashi muttered.

Rei's face turned even more furious, if that were possible.

"_This _is what I mean. You never listen to me, and you always say the wrong things. And you wouldn't understand…"

"And I suppose Hisashi does?"

Her expression suddenly turned very sad. She turned away once more, and her voice was quiet when she replied.

"Yes, he does."

That was it. It was over for him. When she looked like that, he knew he had no chance. Regardless, he asked one more question.

"Did you ever feel anything for me?"

Rei took a long time to answer, but when she did her voice had a kind of heartfelt finality in it, almost as if she felt sorry for him.

"It's true that I did feel that way for you once, but that was a long time ago. You're too indecisive, Takashi. I'm sorry."

She walked away, fading from his sight as did his hope of ever having a relationship with the love of his life.

Takashi stood alone in the classroom, looking out the door.

His world just couldn't get any worse, could it?

* * *

"Hey, Takashi."

"Please… I need your help."

"You have to… help me…"

Hisashi's words were punctuated by coughs that sent blood splattering on the cement.

"Hisashi! Hisashi!"

Rei's desperate cries were like a buzzing sound in his ears. Takashi couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything, and couldn't make sense of anything other than his dead friend in front of him.

Because he _was_ dead. Takashi had this gut feeling – there was no going back for Hisashi now. Whether by Takashi's own hand, or by whatever was making _Them _come into existence, Hisashi was a dead man.

But Takashi couldn't do anything. He could only stare as his friend convulsed on the ground ,writhing in pain. Rei's cries turned angry, and he realised she was shouting at him.

"What are you doing? You have to help him! Takashi!"

Always, always she was yelling at him, never giving him a chance to explain. This woman he now knew he loved, holding his best friend in her arms. His blood stained her clothing, as she desperately tried to hold him together, begging him not to die, telling him he wasn't _allowed _to die.

_Rei… he's dead already. Can't you see that?_

Suddenly Hisashi wrenched his head up to look at Takashi straight in the eyes.

Takashi's eyes widened as Hisashi's brown ones looked at him pleadingly, begging him, begging him to do him one last insurmountable favor.

Begging Takashi to save him.

Begging Takashi to kill him.

But the baseball bat hung limp in Takashi's hand, and he watched as his best friend of nearly seventeen years threw back his head on final time, and collapsed on the ground with a pained gasp.

In that moment, Takashi understood. He understood that when his friend rose once more, he would not be Hisashi. He knew that the world as they knew it had come to an end, and that there would be no returning to it for them. He knew that Hisashi would never see his parents again, would never hug the stepsister he loved again, would never listen to Rei when she needed comforting again.

Hisashi was gone, and a monster had taken his place.

Rei was hysterical, screaming at Hisashi's body.

"Damn it, you're _not allowed to die!"_

Their moans could be heard coming from the other side of their makeshift barrier, and Takashi's hands tightened on his weapon. His voice was quiet, commanding and dangerous.

"Rei, get away from him."

Rei choked through her tears. "What?"

"Get away from Hisashi."

"Shut up, he's not going to turn into one of Them. Hisashi's special."

Takashi wondered if she believed her own desperate words.

Hisashi's hand twitched and his arms hung crookedly behind his torso as he stiffly sat up.

"Hisashi!" Rei's voice was so happy, so painfully happy. The thing that used to be Hisashi turned its head to look at Rei as it slowly lurched to its feet.

Takashi was suddenly very afraid. Very, very afraid of what he was about to do.

"Rei! Get away from it!"

Rei ignored him, as she knelt on the ground, gazing at the monster that loomed above her.

"Hisashi…?"

The thing lunged for her, and Rei instinctively moved out of the way.

"GODDAMN IT REI, MOVE!"

She didn't understand, so she yelled at Takashi as he screamed in defiance of the world as it crumbled around him. He ran towards his best friend, raised his baseball bat, and as the thing's jaw flopped open, he smashed its head with his weapon and sent it crashing to the ground.

"Takashi!"

* * *

**Prologue: Remembering the DEAD**

* * *

_Memories, memories, memories_

_In this world you tried_

_Not leaving me alone behind_

_There's no other way_

_I'll pray to the gods: let him stay_

_The memories ease the pain inside_

_Now I know why_

_All of my memories_

_Keep you near_

_In silent moments_

_Imagine you'd be here_

_All of my memories_

_Keep you near_

_The silent whispers, silent tears_

_Made me promise I'd try_

_To find my way back in this life_

_I hope there is a way_

_To give me a sign you're okay_

_Reminds me again_

_It's worth it all_

_So I can go home_

_All of my memories_

_Keep you near_

_In silent moments_

_Imagine you'd be here_

_All of my memories_

_Keep you near_

_The silent whispers, silent tears…_

* * *

"Takashi!"

"Uhh…"

Takashi slowly opened his eyes, unwilling to accept the fuzziness of the morning. He was met with an annoyed looking Rei standing over him.

"Come on, we're moving."

"Okay, okay."

Rei frowned again, and left Takashi to wake up.

_What a weird dream… I'm surprised I can remember stuff that happened so long ago._

"Well, better get a move on." His voice sounded small in the room. Their group had found a mall, and stocked up on supplies – however none of them felt particularly comfortable staying there. There was no knowing who, or what, could be waiting for them in the large complex.

Takashi pulled himself to his feet and ran a hand through his hair.

"Hisashi… I wish I'd helped you sooner…"

Takashi shook himself and steeled his resolved – there was no time for wishing in this world. He hoisted his jacket, and made his way to the foyer. Suddenly, there was a shout:

"Komuro-kun!"

_Saeko…_

Takashi ran to the railing and looked down into the space below him.

"No way…"

There were… hundreds of Them. Advancing towards the group as Saeko did her best to hold the horde off. She was a truly excellent swordswoman, but no one could prevent such a number of the undead from advancing.

Takashi bounded down a nearby staircase, taking the steps three at a time until he reached the bottom. He ran towards the group, and as he passed Saeko he yelled.

"Time to go!"

Saeko grinned.

"Hai!"

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

I do not own, nor am I affiliated with the series Highschool of the Dead in any way shape or form.

I am not associated with the band Within Temptation, nor do I own the rights to their song 'Memories'

Hi guys! So, H.O.T.D… pretty much the greatest thing ever ;) As there doesn't seem to be any news of a season 2, I thought I'd write it myself. This story follows the events of the _anime. _I have read the manga, but figured it's easier to write a fanfic based after the anime, as the manga has kind of stopped.

Chapters should get longer after this one - gotta keep up!

Review?

* * *

**NEXT CHAPTER: Act 1: Fighting amongst the DEAD**


	2. Act 1: Fighting Amongst the DEAD

_I never could have known that our fates would turn this way. It was only a few days ago that my biggest worry was that I may never be able to call the woman I love 'mine'. _

_It's laughable to even think of it now. Now, instead of moping around being miserable, my days consist of running from monsters that used to be human. Some of them were people I knew. _

_Our lives have changed forever, we can all see that. But we will still fight to protect our lives. We will never stop fighting._

_I just hope that living this way won't cost us our humanity._

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

**Act 1: Trapped amongst the DEAD**

* * *

The street was eerily quiet. Random bits of rubbish swirled through the empty streets, punctuating the silence with rustling.

It was midday, or thereabouts. It was difficult to keep track of time these days, and the time wasn't something she cared about. Although it may have been nice to know how long the world had been in ruin. How long she'd been on the run.

The heavily armed girl stuck her head around the corner of the building she hidden behind, scanning the street for any sign of activity. Seeing neither zombie nor human, she extended her right leg around the corner before pivoting and ending up with her back against the building. Now in the street, she dropped low before moving along the length of the wall, hugging it with her back.

As she came to the far end, she peered around to check for any movement. Seeing nothing, she traversed the gap to the next building in seconds before beginning her slow, laborious journey once again. Her long red hair slid over her left shoulder as she tilted her head.

She was going to have to head back soon. By the time she got back to her base it would be 2pm, and it was going to take a couple of trips to move everything here. That being said, she needed to find a suitable location to set up camp before moving anything.

She rounded yet another corner and froze.

She could hear yelling.

And not the yelling of the crazy lunatics she'd seen around the place – the ones who hunted the undead for sport. No… these were the yells of someone desperate and afraid.

Throwing care to the winds, the girl ran to the end of the street and was met with an unfamiliar sight.

A group of people were clustered outside a mall. Two guys, four girls, one of whom looked to be adult, and one who couldn't be older than eight.

_A surviving family? Or maybe from a school…_

As she watched, one of the boys ran to the four girls and started yelling out orders. He picked up something white and thrust it into the young girl's arms. When it started yapping, she realised it was a dog.

As the girl squinted, she was able to make out yet another person backing out of the mall. She had indigo coloured hair, and bore a long and elegant sword. Light glinted of the metal weapon in her hands as she wielded it. As she backed towards the group, it became evident why they were retreating. The girls eyes widened as hundreds upon hundreds of zombies appeared out from the shadows of the mall, extending their arms and groaning.

"Dammit." The auburn-haired girl whispered to herself. She couldn't just let these people be wiped out. She noted the heavily built vehicle which the majority of the group was getting into.

_There._

The girl sprinted towards the group, pumping her arms and racing to get there as quickly as she could.

As her feet hit gravel, a girl with two pink ponytails whipped around and looked at her in surprise.

"Hirano!" Her voice was commanding and shocked.

The boy that stood next to her spun around, and upon seeing the girl running straight for them, hoisted the heavy duty gun he held to his shoulder.

The girls eyes widened in fear.

"Oh, hell no!" she exclaimed.

She launched herself into the air, leaping off a nearby upturned trolley and bounded straight over the top of the guy's head.

"Wow…" he murmured.

She landed in a crouch atop the vehicle, stood, and turned back to look at the group that now stared at her in amazement. She wore a pair of black pull-on thigh-high boots with enclosed heels. Her torso was clothed in a slim fitting sleeveless, strapless top which became a black pair of training shorts which exposed both her thighs just above her boots. On her arms were a black pair of long fingerless gloves that extended up to her underarms, meaning she was clothed almost entirely in black.

Two straps crossed over her torso, and a belt was slung around her waist. Upon the belt hung two weapons, and a handgun that caused Hirano's eyes to pop out was tucked into it. They could see two black sheathes slung over her back. Her long hair was tied back in a ponytail that in the middle and to the side of her head. A side fringe was swept over her left eye and a smaller, shorter section of hair fell out over her forehead, above her right eye. She blew on it as she talked to the group for the first time.

"Hey, hey, don't go shooting me just yet," she said with a grin. "Looks like you guys could use some help."

The other boy spoke up, and his voice was commanding. It… surprised her. Everyone she had had contact with since this all began had been either half-mad or scared shitless.

She couldn't blame them.

"Who are you?"

The girl smiled again.

"First, how about we get all of you out of here in one piece?"

Drawing two short blades from the sheathes slung over her back, the girl left the group by the vehicle and ignored the guy's shouts.

Wielding her weapons, the girl sprinted to the aid of the only one left fighting, just as the indigo haired warrior leaped into the air with a battle cry.

She caught sight of the girl mid jump, and was distracted. She landed, and the red haired girl heard a crack as the other girl landed on a loose pebble.

Behind her, she heard a yell.

"SAEKO!"

* * *

Saeko landed on the ground hard, her ankle twisted at an awful angle. Her katana clattered to the ground beside her, and she cried out on agony.

Her cry of pain affected the members of the group in different ways.

For Shizuka and Takagi, it felt as if their world had ended. Not that their worlds revolved around her, but if Saeko couldn't fight, then they were dead. As simple as that. Neither of them was confident with their ability to defend themselves, and they were acutely aware of how much they relied on Saeko's fighting prowess to save them. And despite the fact that Takagi had recently found the will to fight, she knew she didn't hold a candle to Saeko.

Alice didn't really understand the ramifications of Saeko's injury, but she was upset that her big sister was in pain. She clutched Zeke to her chest and buried her head against his. Even the dog seemed to be upset, whining in distress for one of his mistresses.

Hirano felt as if he were in shock. He held Saeko in very high regard, and to see her lying on the ground clutching her ankle was jarring, to say the least. That, coupled with the arrival of someone whom he didn't know he could trust was unsettling. Hirano felt incredibly responsible for the group. He needed to keep everyone together. And he would. But it would be considerably more difficult without Saeko guarding the front.

Rei felt sick. That snap… the fact that they could hear it from meters away was horrifying. How was she supposed to help with an injury like _that?_ And more pressing then that, the crowd of zombies was not slowing down. And who was the girl that now stood alone before them? She stood over Saeko's body, and it looked as if she were saying something to her. They had to get out of there!

Takashi was furious. Furious at himself. It was his fault that they were still here, his fault that they hadn't already left. It was his fault that Saeko was unable to stand, and his fault that this new girl was probably going to get herself killed trying to defend her. Dammit, he was _not _about to lose another friend! He was sick of it!

"Takashi!"

His head whipped up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. He saw the girl holding Saeko up.

"Takashi!" The girl roared again. He broke into a full sprint, understanding what he had to do. He reached the two girls, and pulled Saeko out of the nameless girl's arms. As he seated her high up on his back, she extended her good leg around his torso, and wrapped her lithe arms lightly around his neck.

"Saeko, are you all right?"

"Ah… I'll be fine, Komuro-kun. Just, urgh, get _out _of here."

"With you, of course."

Saeko smiled and nodded the affirmative. Takashi became suddenly aware of the other girl who stood facing them, watching their display.

She slowly bent and picked up Saeko's katana and sheathed it, wordlessly handing it to Takashi.

He grunted gratefully, before his eyes widened and he pointed behind the girl with a deadpan expression on his face.

She glanced behind her just as one of Them touched her shoulder with its rotting hand.

"Get her _out _of here!" She yelled, before whipping around and removing the head of the offending zombie with a hard flick of her right wrist.

"Right!" Takashi ran as fast as he could back to the vehicle with Saeko on his back. He pounded along, headed straight for his friends until a tap on the shoulder from Saeko caused him to slow down. Saeko pointed to their right, and Takashi turned to see the crowd of zombies was growing bigger. Namely, they now surrounded the area on three sides. The only side that was undead-free led to the network of narrow alleyways that the girl had just come from.

"Goddammit, we can't fit the Humvee through there!"

Saeko's voice was quiet, yet sincere.

"Komuro-kun, leave me here. You can still break through Them if you leave no-"

"Don't even suggest that!"

Her eyes widened at the tone in his voice, before her expression softened. She closed her eyes and rested her head on Takashi's shoulder.

"Then we'll have to leave the Humvee behind, and find somewhere to hide until the horde disperses again," she said.

"Yeah…"

They reached the vehicle, which was slowly being surrounded by the undead.

"Hirano!"

"Ah, Hai?"

"I need you to lead everyone to somewhere safe down that alleyway! It should be alright considering she," Takashi jerked his thumb behind him, "just came through from there."

He loaded Saeko off his back, and into the care of Takagi.

"Take care of her, and don't let her walk on that foot."

Saya nodded determinedly. The thought of helping a wounded Saeko through narrow roads, not knowing when or if one of Them would appear was terrifying. But she wasn't going to be a dead weight around here anymore. It was time to do her part.

"Rei! I need you to help Hirano keep everyone safe. Don't shoot unless you really need to, otherwise this is all useless!"

"Okay."

"Shizuka-sensei!"

"Huh?" The nurse looked bewildered, as if she hadn't expected to be called upon. She pointed to herself.

"You mean me?"

"Yeah. I need you to grab as many supplies as you can easily carry from the Humvee. You'll need to take a look at Saeko once you find somewhere to stay."

"Hai!" As Shizuka ran to grab bags out of the Humvee, Takashi became aware of a tugging on his sleeve. He looked down to see Alice pulling on his clothes, looking up at him.

"What about me, nii-chan?"

Takashi smiled, and crouched down so he was at Alice's eye level. He put a hand on her shoulder, and spoke in a confident voice.

"I need you to help Shizuka-sensei carry some food, and you and Zeke have to guard the others, okay?"

She beamed at him, and embraced his leg before grabbing an Alice-sized bag away from Shizuka.

Takashi stood and looked to his friends who were assembled, and ready to take out their respective tasks. They were all looking at him with smiles on their faces, and he knew what he had to do.

"Shizuka-sensei, have you got anything for me there?"

She nodded and handed him a solid looking bat. It was similar in weight to a baseball bat, but was slimmer and heavier at the end and hilt. It was a weapon they'd gotten from the Takagi household. He could do some pretty nasty damage with this thing. Their heads wouldn't stand a chance.

Takashi grinned at his team one last time. He caught the eye of Saeko, who was looking at him with an expression that was hard to place. She looked pointedly behind him and he grunted in understanding.

"Well, I'd better go help her out. We'll catch up with you lot after we've made sure They aren't following you. Maybe we'll make some noise somewhere to draw Them away."

"Takashi." Rei sounded almost proud.

"Be careful."

Takashi nodded.

"Now _go!_"

"Hai!" His friend's responded as one, before they took off as quickly as they were able. Shizuka, Alice and Rei went ahead, whilst Hirano hung back with Takagi and Saeko to cover them.

Takashi grinned before running a hand through his hair, a movement that was fast becoming a trademark. Turning to look at the advancing horde, he was shocked to see how close they had come in the time they had been making preparations. Although there was still 40 meters or so of distance between the Humvee and the nearest zombie, it was closer than he felt comfortable with.

Silently, Takashi ran to the side of the nameless girl who was still fighting. He began assisting her in repelling the horde, keeping it as far away from his friends as he could for as long as possible.

"Oh good, I was beginning to think you'd left me here."

The girl's voice was sarcastic and amused at the same time. She kicked a zombie full in its chest, sending it staggering backwards and knocking over several more of Them. Her fighting style was odd – it looked almost as if she was engaging in a fist-fight with Them, only, she wielded blades that frequently separated limbs from torsos, and heads from shoulders.

Takashi himself had a pretty basic fighting style. He had hoped he wouldn't have had to engage in much more hand to hand combat, but pretty much all he did was knock Them out of the way, or literally smash their heads in. Sometimes he found himself replicating the way Saeko would jump to avoid a zombie, or to get around Them and attack from a safer angle. It worked… after a fashion.

"Ah, I'm not like that! I was always going to come and _help-!"_

His final word became a grunt as one of Them got behind his swinging arm. For three terrifying seconds the thing chomped the inches of air between their heads, before a point of metal flashed before his eyes, and the zombie collapsed at his feet.

Takashi looked up to the see the girl nod, before taking a step back and raising her weapons.

"Good, because I would have had to hunt you down and make you answer for what you'd done if you _had_ left me." Takashi's face adopted an expression of terror, before he saw the grin on the girls face. She was smiling, even as the blood of monsters that used to be human flew through the air, tainting it with a dead smell.

A few of Them later, and Takashi began to realise that they weren't going to be able to slow them down much longer.

"Hey! We have to get out of here! Grab what you can from the Humvee and let's go!"

"Right."

Takashi turned and froze. His eyes went wide.

"No way…"

The girl spun around and she made a surprised noise.

They were totally surrounded. Zombies poured out from the surrounding areas of the mall. The car park, the loading bays, the gardening area. Hundreds, no, _thousands _of Them, pouring from nearly every direction. An endless, dismaying moan rose from their midst. It was like a scene from a horror movie, only Takashi couldn't see that they would be around to make a sequel.

"Come on!" They took off for the Humvee, still holding onto their weapons. They reached the vehicle in record time, and Takashi threw open the driver's door.

"Get in! We have to drive through them _now!"_

"Are you kidding?" she yelled, "They're coming at us fifty thick! We can't get through that many!"

"We've gotten through more than that before!"

"Were They as tightly packed as They are now?"

Takashi slammed his fist against the door.

"Fuck it all…"

He growled and hoisted himself onto the roof, and the girl quickly followed suit.

As they stood together, mere centimeters apart, the girl sheathed her weapons, put a hand above her eyes and looked to the sun.

"Any ideas?"

Takashi shook his head. "Thank you, for saving my friends. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't shown up…

The girl looked at him, and smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it. I think I distracted Saeko anyway…"

"I'm impressed. Saeko is very… engaged when she fights." Takashi looked at the zombies around them as They reached for the girl and himself.

"Huh. I guess, in this world, dying like this, next to a nameless stranger isn't so surprising, is it? Although, with my luck, it was more likely that I'd just die alone."

Takashi frowned at her. He slowly extended his hand.

"Takashi Komuro."

The girl looked surprised, and Takashi registered a flash of recognition in her eyes before she smiled and took his hand in a firm handshake.

"I'm-"

She was cut off as the vehicle shook. They turned, and Takashi jumped back as one of Them extended an arm on top of the vehicle and clutched at his ankle. He stumbled backwards and tripped over the hatch on the roof, landing hard on his rear.

"Ow-w-w-w," he groaned, gingerly rubbing his behind and glaring at the offending hatch.

The sight of the zombies that surrounded them was overwhelming. Stumbling, groaning, ravenous things that used to be human. Looking at Them was like looking at an optical illusion. They randomly swayed and groped and reached out to him, desperate to sate Their hunger. As more of Them reached out to grab the two teens, the girl began kicking out at the horde, removing hands from the vehicle and leaving smears of blood on the roof. Takashi got to his feet, making a last-ditch effort to concoct an escape plan. He was surprisingly calm, despite the legions of undead that were desperate to take a chomp out of him.

His eyes fell on the hatch once more and his heart sunk.

"Hey!"

The girl spun around and quickly took in what Takashi was trying to do. She covered him as he crouched and wrenched the hatch open.

"Get in!" she yelled, breaking one of the thing's necks with a sharp kick from her right foot. Its head flopped backwards to rest on Its back. As It slowly fell, other zombie followed It to the ground and began gnawing on his flesh.

Takashi swallowed hard and jumped down into the Humvee, just as the whole vehicle _tilted._

It suddenly became a lot harder for the girl to keep her footing, and she realised that she was now standing on a slope, that was quickly becoming steeper.

As the efforts of the undead were successful in tipping the vehicle onto its roof, the girl dived for the hatch and disappeared through it headfirst. Takashi slammed the hatch home, and the vehicle seemed to hang in midair, two wheels on the ground, two in the air. It hung there for five long seconds before it toppled over completely, landing on its roof and sending its two occupants tumbling.

Dust settled as the horde blocked the Humvee from view. The two survivors lay still inside the vehicle, as numerous undead swarmed over it.

They were trapped.

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

* * *

The Humvee settled on the gravel, and the groans of the undead permeated through the doors, sending chills down Takashi's aching spine. He had landed hard on his back, and a dead weight rested between and on his legs, preventing him from moving them. There was also a weight on his torso – warm and soft, but pointy at the same time. There was something on his head as well.

Takashi cracked open his eyes, and his cheeks instantly turned bright red.

"B…b…"

The girl that lay on top of him groaned, and her eyes opened mere inches from his.

"Boobs-!" His yell of surprise was cut off as the girl slammed her hand down over his mouth. She raised a finger to her slightly opened lips, gesturing for him to be quiet. Takashi gulped, and nodded. The girl smiled.

"Gomen. I didn't mean to land on you…"

"Ah, ah, it's nothing. Don't worry about it." He just needed her to move so this situation didn't escalate to levels of extreme awkwardness. Her… _chest…_ was pressed right up in his face. She suddenly blushed as she realised what the problem was, and awkwardly scrambled backwards, rubbing against him as she did so. Takashi's face was deadpanned when they were finally separated, but his cheeks were burning red.

He and the girl managed to right themselves so they were sitting with hunched backs on what turned out to be the underside of the roof, looking at the decomposing legs of the many zombies that surrounded them.

Takashi twisted onto his stomach and looked up and out of the windows that were now at ground level. The zombies didn't seem to be making any effort to break into the vehicle. He turned to look at the girl again, trying to formulate words for a question, but failed when he saw her lying on her front, peering out of the window on her side.

_Honestly, you don't even know what her name is yet…_

Takashi opened his mouth to ask the question when a weight fell on the roof.

"One of Them's on top of us," the girl whispered. Takashi's eyes widened; his stomach was twisting and untwisting, and he felt sick as he thought of how little space was separating him and the horde.

"I don't think They know where we are. It looks almost like-!"

She made a startled noise and tried to back away from the window quickly. She hit her head and swore under her breath before pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. Takashi looked around her to see what had startled her so much, and he gasped in disgust. A head stared in through the window, right where she had been looking out.

Takashi grunted in distaste, before awkwardly lying back and looking at the girl next to him. He gulped as he paid true attention to what she looked like for the first time.

She had long, coppery red hair that was tied back in a high side ponytail which splayed over her left shoulder. She had quite pale skin, and her neck had a graceful arch to it as she leaned back. Her eyes were closed at the moment, but he remembered that they were a blue colour. Her left ear was pierced three times - two silver bands adorned the top section of her helix, and she had a single silver stud in the lobe of each ear. She was clothed entirely in black, and two short swords were slung over her back. She had two black belts strapped crosswise over her torso and shoulders, upon which were several pouches. She also had weapons hung on the belt around her waist, which she began to unload as he watched.

The girl began to unload her gear, and Takashi saw what had been poking him earlier. She set the heavy thing on the ground, and Takashi's eyes widened as he saw what it was.

"Wow, that's an axe!"

The girl frowned at it. "Yeah, I picked it up at a woodworking place I passed by the day after the breakout… it was better at keeping Them away than the batons I had with me at the time. I still think I have those, actually."

Takashi looked around in confusion. "Not with you obviously."

She sighed. "Yeah. I've got a few stashes of weapons, food stuffs and other supplies at certain locations throughout the city."

"Seriously?"

She smiled sadly. "I've been moving through the city since the first day, trying to find any survivors. I ended up storing stuff I found as I went in case I needed somewhere to return to. I guess you could call them my 'bases'," the girl said with a grin.

Takashi exhaled in amazement. "That's pretty impressive. But you know," he chuckled, "you're not supposed to have more than one 'base'."

The girl frowned. "I guess that's true, but, I've not yet found any place that has been truly safe."

"Nowhere is these days…"

The two trailed off into silence. The desire to stand was already strong – it was strangely claustrophobic lying in the small space, with the unusable seat taking up most of the room. They were forced to lie next to each other, close enough that they were touching.

Takashi scratched his head, annoyed at himself.

"So-"

"Wh-"

The two broke off, surprised that they had both started to talk at the same time. They laughed, before Takashi jumped in to get first dibs.

"You go."

The girl frowned, and uncomfortably sat up, bowing her head to prevent it from hitting the roof.

"You are… _were…_ in high school?"

Takashi was puzzled. "Yes."

"Second year, by any chance?"

"Yeah… were you in second year as well?"

She nodded, and turned her head away. "What high school did you go to?"

"Ah, Fujimi High School."

The girl was silent for a long while, in which Takashi felt like he had said something wrong. He was considering saying something to break the silence, when she spoke up once more.

"I thought that might be it."

Now Takashi was even more confused. "You didn't go to Fujimi, did you? I don't think I'd seen you around before… I'm pretty sure I would have remembered you if you had."

She laughed, and the sound was almost bitter. "Yeah, you would have remembered me all right."

"Sooo… what high school _did _you go to then?"

"...Tetsuya High."

"Oh yeah, that's Fujimi's sister school! …Hey, I never did get your name…"

The girl turned to him, and smiled a small smile.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Takashi-san. My name is Miyuki Arakawa."

Takashi was still. Memories tumbled in his head. His eyes widened.

"_Hey, did I tell you about Romi?"_

"_Your step-mum? What about her?"_

"_Her daughter is coming to live with us."_

"_What's her name?"_

"_Miyuki Arakawa."_

"Miyuki…" Takashi's pupils dilated in some unexplainable emotion which felt a lot like fear. Miyuki smiled again, but a shadow fell across her face as she did so.

"Takashi-san, are there any other members of your group? Any one that wasn't here?" Miyuki quietly asked.

Takashi's face darkened, and he lowered his gaze to avoid hers.

"No… we left the Takagi mansion in 2-chrome a few days ago, but you're the first person we've seen since then."

"I see." Miyuki bent her leg and brought her knee up to her chest, hugging it close and resting her chin on it. Her hair fell over her shoulder and she idly blew on two strands that had slipped free of the ponytail over her forehead.

"I was on my way to the Takagi mansion myself, when I ran into a bunch of people and decided to help them out. I left pretty quickly when I saw how… crazy they were."

Takashi nodded. "Yeah, we've seen people like that about the place too. It's strange that we have to be prepared to defend ourselves against more than just the dead, if you know what I mean." Takashi was fidgeting with his fingers, trying as much as he could not to let his discomfort with the present situation show. He knew that Miyuki had been living with Hisashi for over three years before the outbreak, and yet he had never met her. He certainly never thought their first meeting would be like _this._

_She deserves to know, but… how the hell am I supposed to tell her about what I did? I'll wait until we get out of here in any case._

Miyuki watched Takashi thoughtfully as he thought about killing her step-brother. She had mixed feelings about this meeting, and a terrible idea about what may have happened to Hisashi. But now was not the time to think of such things. She did not want to ruin this chance she had to gain Takashi's friendship – it would have been unfair to Hisashi.

She was suddenly hit with an overwhelming wave of exhaustion. Her eyes fluttered shut of their own accord before she jerked her head back, not allowing herself to sleep.

"Oi, oi!" Takashi exclaimed, "are you all right?"

"I'm just a little tired…" Miyuki's eyes shut again before she appeared to violently reawaken once more.

Takashi chuckled, "hey, you can get some sleep if you like. We're stuck here for a while yet, so you may as well rest up while you can."

Miyuki frowned. "Forgive me, Takashi-san, but the last time I fell asleep in a vehicle when a male was present, I was molested in my sleep."

"A-" How the hell was he supposed to respond to _that?_

Takashi sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Geez…"

"What?"

"Well, I guess I thought you'd have a little bit more trust in me than that, Miyuki-san."

Miyuki looked surprised, before her gaze turned thoughtful. She chuckled.

"Well, I suppose I don't have much choice in the matter, do I?"

Takashi scrambled to make room for her as Miyuki arranged her body in the most comfortable position she could. She yawned long and loud, but muffled the sound with her hand. Takashi noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

"Ehh, when was the last time you slept?"

Miyuki seemed to think hard about the question. "Hmm, I can't quite remember…"

"That long, huh?" Takashi mumbled, slightly in awe of the fact that someone could genuinely not remember the last time they slept.

"Oh!" Miyuki sleepily exclaimed. "It was two nights ago, for about four hours. I overslept that day."

"What? I didn't even now it was possible to go without sleep for so long!"

Miyuki smiled. "Yeah… neither did I…" Her voice trailed off, and her breathing was soon even. Takashi had never heard of someone falling asleep so quickly.

"Honestly," he said quietly, "what the hell kind of situation is this?"

He looked at the sleeping form of Miyuki and smiled bitterly. She didn't look a thing like Hisashi. He could have seen her any number of times and he still wouldn't have known who she was. Takashi lay back slightly, acutely aware of how close they were forced to be in the small space they had available.

He felt… lonely. Miyuki didn't look like she was going to wake up any time soon, so the only company he had were the groans of the undead.

Takashi shut his eyes.

Maybe sleep wasn't such a bad idea after all…

* * *

**Act 1: Trapped amongst the DEAD**

* * *

_I always needed time on my own,_

_I never thought I'd need you there when I cry._

_And the days feel like years when I'm alone,_

_And the bed where you lie is made up on your side._

_When you walk away I count the steps that you take,_

_Do you see how much I need you right now?_

_When you're gone,_

_The pieces of my heart are missing you._

_When you're gone,_

_The face I came to know is missing too._

_When you're gone,_

_The words I need to hear to always get me through_

_The day and make it ok,_

_I miss you..._

* * *

Hirano turned the barrel of the gun towards him and pointed his bespectacled eye down its inside, trying to discern whether there was any need for him to carry out maintenance.

They had found a small apartment block which he and Rei had checked and found to be undead-free. They were holed up in the reception area and the first floor where they could get some rest on proper beds. Saeko was on the first floor, hopefully resting after Shizuka had taken a look at her bung ankle and confirmed that she needed bed rest.

Miraculously, the ankle wasn't broken – the crack had come from the ligaments in her foot twisting in the wrong direction. Tak- Saya had pointed out that it was probably a quick release of gas within Saeko's foot which had made such a loud noise.

He didn't really understand it himself; he would leave that to people who knew what they were talking about.

Now guns… _guns _he understood.

And it was a damn good thing too, considering that their main 'fire power' if you will, had been consigned to at least one week of bed rest before she was allowed to walk again.

Hirano frowned and looked over to Saya, who was looking concernedly at a forlorn Rei.

It seemed like that girl could be trusted to help them… He would get his confirmation of that as soon as Komuro returned with her.

And he would return.

He had to.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

I do not own, nor am I affiliated with the series Highschool of the Dead in any way, shape or form.

I am not associated with the artist Avril Lavigne, nor do I own the rights to her song 'When you're gone'

Another thank you to **The Queen of Water **for their review. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

I don't know what happened to the formatting last chapter, it went a bit blocky when it came to the ending song. Hopefully this time around it works better.

Reviews are appreciated :)

* * *

**NEXT CHAPTER: Act 2: Living with the DEAD**


	3. Act 2: Living with the DEAD

_Since everything's changed, we haven't just had to deal with the dead._

_People we used to consider human also haunt the streets – now they're just crazy lunatics who are just as likely to gun us down as the next zombie._

_So in this world, where everything has been turned on its head, can we truly afford to accept someone so volatile? Of course, we will. I owe it to him._

_How could I ever have known that my past would come back to haunt me in such an unavoidable manner?_

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

**Act 2: Living with the DEAD**

* * *

_Fuzzy images buzzed behind her eyes, causing her to tense in her sleep._

_Endless legions of the undead swarmed through Miyuki's hazy vision, crying out to her in the voices they had possessed before they had turned. She knew each and every one of them as well as she knew herself, and she felt what they had felt when they had been consumed._

_Amidst the chaos, she searched for one face in particular. Her wide eyes were drawn to the left by some unseen force, and there he was._

_Her step-brother, Hisashi, the only person she had felt truly comfortable talking to in the three and a half years she had known him. She had always appreciated his kindness, but had always wondered what lay beneath his constantly optimistic exterior. She knew he fought to protect what he cared about. She'd felt it the very first time he had hugged her, only a week after she had first moved in._

_Unconsciously, she reached out a hand, and he grabbed it in an iron grip, pulling her towards him. As she watched, his flesh turned grey and his jaw flopped open. Blood trickled from his mouth as he reached out towards her, and Miyuki wrenched herself free as the zombie attempted to devour her._

_Taking a few steps back, she had no time to think as the thing that used to be Hisashi was struck by a speeding car. Hisashi's body crumpled to the ground, and the white car wrapped around a sign post in a screech of metallic wailing. Running to the car, Miyuki gasped to see her father, her biological father, folded over the steering wheel. Blood and a clear fluid ran out of all openings in his head, staining the leather interior with a putrid stench._

_Just as she'd found him nearly four years ago._

_She turned to run, and collided with the thing that used to be Hisashi once more. As it grabbed her arm, it morphed into Hisashi's best friend._

_Dilated pupils slowly returned to their normal size, and the ashy complexion of Takashi's skin brightened and browned into his normal skin tone._

_The now-human Takashi smiled, and pointed to the purple haired girl that stood at his side._

_Miyuki was so relived._

_She wasn't going to die._

_No one was going to d-_

_Seven daggers pierced her chest, and a group of people she had only recently come into contact with loomed over her body as her knees gave way. Even the young girl with pink hair stood over her, and the small dog snarled at Miyuki, as if she were the enemy. _

_The boy she assumed was the leader – Takashi, she remembered his name was – frowned as she bled out at his feet. _

_As Miyuki's eyes closed, violent red spewed through her lids, before the group was torched by an explosion of unbelievable ferocity. Miyuki grinned as the fire consumed her._

_There was no way she wasn't going to take these fuckers down to hell with her…_

Another explosion ripped through the night, jolting Miyuki into wakefulness. Bright light spilled through the upturned windows, causing her to shield her eyes with her hand.

Takashi was on his stomach, looking out through the window as the explosion slowly swallowed itself whole. Cold, clammy sweat clung to Miyuki's face as the remnants of her nightmare played themselves out in her mind, and she shook herself.

She was not going to die.

Trying to look out the window as well, Miyuki mumbled sleepily.

"Can you see who's behind the explosions?"

Takashi shook his head and turned to her. "I've only been awake a few minutes. There was another explosion before that one, only about a minute ago."

Peering into the night, they could just make out the form of the undead. Their legs shuffled as They slowly made Their way towards the source of the explosion; a great mass of legs slowly moving away from the vehicle.

A few minutes later and Takashi could see the back of the heads of the zombies who had been closest to them when they had hidden inside the Humvee. He grinned, and Miyuki sighed in relief.

They looked at each other triumphantly, feeling some wall that had been separating them fall down as a result of the mysterious explosions.

Miyuki's grin widened, and she extended a hand.

"It's a pleasure to have survived with you, Takashi Komuro."

Takashi took her hand in a firm grip. "Let's make it last for a long while yet, Miyuki Arakawa."

They shook once, before the door nearest to Miyuki was flung open, causing them to start in surprise.

A face shrouded in shadow thrust its way through the door, and grinned eerily in the dark.

"Fooouund yoouu…"

* * *

She hadn't slept for very long, and she was exhausted.

But she wasn't about to let that show. Not when the desperate people here needed a pillar of strength to rely upon.

Rika could still remember when a group of about five people had warily approached her in detail. It had been the morning after the EMP strike, and the airport had fallen into chaos after the loss of electricity. With no way to get into contact with the higher-ups (despite the fact most of them had been transformed), the airport personnel had had a near impossible job keeping the peace amongst those who were going to be flown somewhere 'safe'.

The numbers at the airport had seemed to swell beyond the normal capacity, and normal citizens and V.I.P.s alike now filled the wide spaces inside the complex. They got new arrivals every day as citizens found whatever way they could to cross the water and make it to the airport. It was a nightmare constantly scanning everyone to make sure they hadn't been bitten.

And her partner had just had to go and play the hero…

She frowned as she thought of him. He'd saved a lot of people's lives – but at the cost of his own. She couldn't forget him by going and losing the plot. As people grew more desperate and depressed, regular citizens had started coming to her, asking her to tell them that everything would be okay. That everyone would live.

And Rika always told them that that was a future they had to fight for themselves.

Amidst all of this, Rika and had kept her cool – she could handle situations like this. But what Rika _hadn't _been trained for was the situation she now found herself in.

Five apprehensive government officials who had swapped out their suits for plainer clothes at some point during their stay had approached her, almost reluctant in their delivery.

"You, you are one of the officers who were dispatched here to keep the runway clear?"

Rika pulled her unlit cigarette out of her mouth, and peered at the guys in front of her through her shockingly purple hair.

"Yeah, I'm the leading officer here."

"We have a request."

"Oh," Rika chuckled, "and what might that be?"

The guy on the right of the one that had been talking spoke up. He was younger than the rest, and obviously had been having trouble dealing with the goings on of the world around him.

"We need you to become the prime minister!"

Rika's eyes widened in surprise.

"Excuse me?" she snorted. Her, the leading figure of the country. Oh that'd go down well.

"I'm dead serious," the man's voice was as solemn as his words. Rika looked up again.

"You realise that you guys can't just appoint me to be prime minister as easily as that, right?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," the third official said. "We've lost contact with the rest of the government figureheads – for all we know, they've already been turned into those _creatures. _Right now, people are panicking – they don't know what to do."

"And for whatever reason, they don't trust _you _enough to do the job?" Rika asked, her sarcastic voice confident in the answer.

The men ground their teeth and clenched their fists, answering her question.

"Believe me," said the first man again, "we didn't want to appoint _you _to be leader. But the citizens seem to think that the government is behind the outbreak, so-"

"_Are _they behind it?"

The men were furious at Rika's question, and they opened their mouth's to yell before she threw back her head and laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous! No amount of science can re-animate a dead person. But people need an explanation for something unexplainable like this. Hell, I wouldn't mind an explanation myself."

She pinched the cigarette tightly between her fingers.

"You guys must've heard that I'm heading into the city soon. I'm not here to stick around."

At this the men seemed to deflate as the fight went out of them.

"We don't have much of a choice. We just need to do what we can. You're the highest ranked officer here – so believe it or not, the people here are more likely to listen to you than anyone else."

Rika sighed and rubbed her forehead. Pinching the bridge of her nose she looked up at the men in front of her through the hair that fell over her face.

"Sorry, I'm not interested."

She stood up to leave before the youngest of the men yelled at her in anger.

"You would just leave us here?"

Rika turned to him with cold anger in her eyes.

"Don't you have any loved ones?"

The man's eyes widened in surprise before grief overtook his face. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists and stared at the ground.

Rika's gaze softened. "Wouldn't you have tried to save them if you could?"

He looked up in surprise before swearing under his breath and turning away.

She looked to the other men who stared forlornly at their colleague and sighed once more.

"What exactly is it you want me to do?"

* * *

Hirano sat in the reception foyer of the apartment block, restlessly fidgeting with one of the magazines for his rifle. He unloaded and re-loaded the magazine, pedantically trying to line each one up on top of each other perfectly.

Before the horde had struck at the mall, it had been roughly noon. It was now about 3:00am the next day, and there had been no sign of Komuro, or the girl he was supposedly with.

Hirano had slept for a few hours earlier, and had fully expected to wake to find Komuro walking through the door. Now, five hours later, he still sat up waiting for him.

The group was restless – Rei was downright irritable to everyone who tried to talk to her, and Alice had grown very quiet. Shizuka had tried to help her get to sleep, but Alice wanted her big brother – and he was nowhere to be found. They'd posted a lookout to alert the rest of the group is any of Them – or indeed if Komuro – drew near.

Takagi was watching out at the moment – she, Hirano and occasionally Rei took turns and Hirano despaired to know that his shift was coming up soon.

This sitting and waiting couldn't go on.

They would have to go out and find their leader.

"Miyamoto-san." Hirano's voice sounded small and weary in the room.

The orangey-brown haired girl slowly looked up at him.

"What?"

"Can you take over from Takagi-san? We need to discuss what we're going to do about Komuro."

Rei's eyes widened slightly and she nodded before standing and walking to Saya. She tapped her on the shoulder and sat on her stool, peering out through the windows to look at the street which was lit by a dim light.

Takagi marched over to the armchair Rei had just vacated and collapsed into it dramatically.

"For crying out loud. We've been waiting for Komuro for ages and still no sign of him! That idiot better not be doing anything stupid…"

"He's still out there because he was trying to protect us, Takagi-san" Hirano said slightly apprehensively, waiting for Saya's explosive response.

Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

"I _know _that. That's why it's so annoying."

Hirano was surprised before a grin broke over his face.

"And's that's why we're going to go find him!" he exclaimed.

Rei looked over her shoulder in surprise. "Right! We should go as soon as possible!"

Takagi held out her hand. "We can't just go charging off. It's pitch black outside right now. We wouldn't be able to see _Them, _or Komuro for that matter. We'd just get ourselves killed."

"Demo-!" Rei began to yell.

"Miyamoto-san, we are definitely going to find him," Hirano cut her off determinedly.

Rei frowned and turned back to the window.

"We can't leave him out there by himself."

"He's not by himself." Saya pointed out. "And they'll have been able to get some stuff from the Humvee anyway… But still…"

"Yeah," Hirano agreed.

"We still have to go and get them."

"So what do we do?" Rei asked, still gazing out of the window intently.

"The first thing we can do is go back to the mall – it's not all that far away, and it's the last place we know they were." Takagi mused aloud.

"Yeah, but there were so many of Them there…" Hirano muttered.

Takagi got slowly to her feet.

"That's why we'll need to be extra careful!" She said with a grin.

Hirano stood too.

"Right! I'll go – and Takagi-san you should come with me!"

"Eh?" Rei jumped to her feet. "I'm going too!"

Hirano shook his head. "Miyamoto-san, we need you to hold the fort here. My guns would just draw Their attention if I stayed, and someone has to protect Busujima-sempai."

Rei's eyes widened and she turned away. He was right, but…

_I don't want to protect her…_

Saya groaned. "Do I really have to go? Damn it, what a pain."

Hirano smiled winningly at her. "Well, I don't really want to go alone, so…"

Takagi held up her hands in disgust. "Save it for later fatty! Go let the others know what's going on – I need to change into something else."

She still wore the lacy blouse and skirt she had picked up from her parents mansion. Despite everything, it was a little piece of home. But it was impractical for what they were about to do.

She ran up the stairs and Hirano followed behind her, leaving Rei to her thoughts.

Hirano made his way to the room where Saeko lay, calling Shizuka and Alice as he did so.

He stood just inside the doorway as the school nurse and seven year old perched on the sides of the bed. Shizuka had removed the long boot that covered Saeko's bad leg, not stopping even when it caused the indigo haired girl visible pain. Saeko herself had her bung ankle propped up on a couple of pillows, and she pulled herself into a sitting position as Hirano entered.

"So, you plan to find Komuro-kun?" Her blue eyes were full of approval.

Hirano nodded.

"Hai. Takagi-san and I will head back to the mall and see if we can't figure out where he and that girl have gone."

"Hmm… I do hope they're both alright. I suppose I owe my life to both Komuro and Miyuki in more ways than one. I wouldn't want anything to happen to them." Saeko said.

"Huh? Miyuki… is it?" Hirano questioned, momentarily thrown by the unfamiliar name.

"Yes, she told me her name when she first came to my aid. Although I am not aware of her last name."

"She seemed pretty good at fighting!" Shizuka said. "It'd be great if she came with us!" ("She seemed pretty cool too," she said offhandedly to Alice who nodded in agreement.)

"As soon as Takagi-san is ready we'll leave. We should be back by the morning," Hirano elaborated. "We'll bring both her and Komuro back!"

"Did'ja say my name fatty?"

"Wow Saya onee-chan!" Alice exclaimed as Saya stepped into the room.

She wore a long sleeved black top which was covered by a short sleeved brown t-shirt. Khaki shorts covered her legs, and some skinny black suspenders held them in place. She wore high-tops on her feet, and her hair was tied back with two black ribbons as opposed to her usual white.

"Uh, Takagi-san, umm," Hirano felt as if he were in danger of bleeding out at the mere sight of her.

Takagi flicked him on the nose and walked up to Saeko's bed.

"We'll definitely get him back, just wait!" She said confidently.

"I have no doubt that you will," Saeko responded smugly.

"Ah!" Shizuka exclaimed in delight, cutting off Takagi's disgruntled response. "I just remembered this!"

She stood and bent over one of the bags she had brought from the Humvee, pulling out two headlamps.

She passed one to Takagi who placed it over her ear. The light wrapped around her head and rested above her right eye, allowing her to see without needing to hold anything.

"That's great Shizuka-sensei!" Hirano exclaimed. He strapped on his own, and pulled two more out of the bag for Komuro and Miyuki.

Saya cast her eye over the bag and noticed some small red packages.

"Huh?"

She pulled one out and flipped it over to see the underside. Suddenly she grinned and held it up.

"I think this may be useful."

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

* * *

Saya and Hirano slowly pushed open the door and stepped out into the poorly lit street.

Turning back to back to check for any immediate danger, they confirmed the street was clear and began to proceed back to the mall which was only a few blocks away.

Hirano turned and gave a full military salute to Alice through the window. The young girl giggled and waved a farewell.

Takagi poked him in the gut, annoyed. Hirano sighed wearily and nodded. They were on a mission.

The street was dark and forbidding, and the small illumination of their headlamps created an eerie atmosphere. They only had a few feet of fuzzy light – they would have to react quickly if they ran into any 'trouble'.

The two moved slowly along, taking their time to make as little noise as possible. Fighting in these conditions was something they needed to avoid at all costs as the guns would echo horribly in the night. Excessive noise would sabotage any efforts to rescue Takashi, not to mention it would jeopardize their safety. And their safety was their number one priority.

In the event that they were unable to avoid conflict, both Saya and Hirano had attached bayonets to the heavy rifles they carried, meaning to use them to repel an incoming attacks, rather than to actually kill Them. It had been a mutual agreement between them both – a rare occurrence.

Hirano dreaded ever needing to use the knife.

He was a man built for long-range combat after all.

As he thought about it, he realized that he didn't really have an appropriate skill set for this mission. Sure, he was able to take out many of Them in one go, and he was an excellent shot, but he had not yet been in a situation that required he face the enemy at such (potentially) close quarters.

Rei would probably been a better choice considering her soujutsu skills, but his reasoning back there had been legitimate. If Hirano had been the only one there who could fight, then they would have been surrounded and taken out. Not to mention he felt incredibly responsible for this rescue mission. It was unfair of him to expect Takashi to bear the leadership role all the time, and he was happy enough to step up. He knew the group respected his abilities.

Well… that was true, but not everyone was _nice _about it.

Hirano looked over to Takagi, who had a determined look in her eyes as she held her rifle out in front of her. She wasn't technically holding it correctly, but he didn't feel like telling her that. He didn't want to die so early in the mission.

Wind whistled through the alleyway, making its traversers pause. Saya rolled her eyes at Hirano in annoyance, and the gun nerd nodded. It was so quiet that the wind may actually draw Their attention.

They were making decent time, and they slowed as they reached the exit to the mall's car park. Low moaning began to fill the air, and Saya's hazel eyes widened in disbelief as she took in the magnitude of the undead that filled the area. Completely overwhelming numbers of Them, swaying eerily in the outskirts of her vision.

Equally shocked, Hirano unclipped his headlight and raised it higher in the air, illuminating more of the sea of undead. He made out a strange mound nearly in the center of the area – some of Them were standing on something that made them stick out much higher than the things around them.

"I don't believe it…" Takagi murmured, and they backed further into the alleyway to avoid detection.

"W-where the hell could they have gone faced with _that?" _Hirano whispered.

Saya didn't bite back with her usual snarky reply, too busy focusing on the situation at hand.

"You saw what it's like. Think about it… _They _were coming out of everywhere when we got out of there – the only free place was this alley! And if they'd come down here, we definitely would have seen them."

"So… they're…" Hirano cut himself off, unable to finish the sentence.

"That's one of two possibilities," Takagi said matter-of-factly.

"You saw that mound in the middle of Them right?" she continued. Hirano nodded, unsure of where she was headed with this.

Takagi sighed. "If they were surrounded, and couldn't escape, what was the one thing they could have hidden in?"

"Ah, well… wait, you don't mean the Humvee?" Hirano exclaimed.

"Keep it down fatty, and that's exactly what I mean," Saya admonished harshly.

"No way…" Hirano muttered as he looked back at the sea of undead. How could they possibly be under that mound of animated bodies, huddled inside a vehicle?

"Now then." Saya placed her hands on her hips and looked up at Hirano. "How are we going to get them out of there?"

Hirano turned to her, and an alarming grin spread over his face. Saya took a step back for safety's sake before Hirano cackled gleefully.

"It's a good thing you're a genius, Takagi-san."

"W-what are you talking about you stupid fatty?" Saya stammered in fear.

Hirano held out his hand. "Those packages you ingeniously thought to bring with us? May I have one?"

Takagi grumbled but fumbled in the pockets of her shorts, which held four of the little red packages and two boxes of matches. Passing one to Hirano, he held it up to the light of his headlight, grinning as it came into view.

'_Bailey's hand-made plastic explosive. Just light the fuse and run!'_

He laughed dangerously. Tonight had just gotten a whole lot more fun.

Saya shook her head. "I still can't believe that place sold _explosives. _I mean, who needs _plastic explosives _in the middle of the city?"

Hirano grinned again. "Don't question the Gods of survival, Takagi-san"

…_What does that even mean? _Takagi thought to herself.

Agreeing on a plan of action, Hirano and Saya doubled back and made their way around the block to approach the mall from the right side. Finding the gate had been flattened, they climbed over the mesh-covered ground and made their way up an embankment about 150 meters away from the building.

Hirano was to light the first fuse – which burned for 2 minutes before the explosion went off – before doubling back to the alley that had just vacated. Saya would be even further away, about 200 meters, where she would let off the second explosion just after Hirano's. The plan was to meet back at the alleyway after all of Them had moved away.

Hirano huffed and puffed as they cleared the embankment before Takagi handed him a box of matches and two of the little red packets.

"As a backup only," she warned. Hirano nodded meekly.

"If you can't carry out the plan for whatever reason, abandon the explosives and get back to the apartment. We can figure out some way to help Komuro later if we need to." Hirano said seriously.

"I get it, I get it. We won't even be that far away from each other, geez." Takagi dismissed him airily.

"Takagi-san, our safety is our first priority," he said forcefully, causing her to look up in surprise. A strange expression crossed over her face and Saya smiled before turning away.

"Yeah, I know. Alright fatty!" She spun around suddenly, pointing a finger at Hirano. "Let's do this!"

After his surprise disappeared, Hirano grinned. "Hai!"

Takagi turned and marched into the night. She really wasn't all that far away, but Hirano couldn't see her at all now. He waited for a minute before carefully unwrapping the explosive, slowly uncoiling the fuse that came with it. He looked down at the base of the embankment, and to the large mall which would protect Komuro and Miyuki from the explosion. He grinned as a thought came to him.

Striking a match, he held the explosive loosely in one hand and lit the fuse. He watched as the little orange flame snaked up the blue fuse before shaking his head, drawing back his arm and flinging the explosive as far away from the building as he could. True to the promises of the packet, the fuse remained lit, and Hirano pumped his fist in the air before sliding down the embankment.

Hiding behind the corner of the hill, Hirano waited with baited breath as he counted down the seconds till the explosion – truly, he should have moved further away, but he was safe here, and he wanted to see the explosion for himself.

10 seconds to go, and beads of sweat began to pour down Hirano's face. He gripped his gun tightly and counted down in his head.

_5… 4… 3… 2… 1… BLAST OFF!_

There was a pause, in which it seemed the whole world held its breath, before a rush of sound assaulted Hirano's ears. Thunderous booming preceded the most spectacular thing Hirano had ever seen – a giant billowing ball of flame and smoke which shot into the air, casting a powerful light on its surroundings. Hirano's face was lit up, and the reflection from his glasses would have blinded any onlookers.

A heat wave blasted into Hirano's face, nearly knocking him over as heat blistered his skin. He jumped to his feet and crowed as the explosion seemed to be swallowed by the air, leaving the night whole once more. As the noise died down, a long and guttural moaning filled the air. The sound of shuffling feet scraping across asphalt dragged Hirano out of his blissful reverie.

Before he had time to move, another explosion ripped through the air, illuminating the undead that were already nearing him. He jumped with excitement, and turned to leave before he spotted a stretch of asphalt behind him. It was walled on three sides, extended far away from the building, and the sound would echo wonderfully.

Grinning manically, Hirano deviated from the plan and fumbled to pull out his back-up explosive as he faced on of the walls of the newly discovered asphalt courtyard. Swearing to himself as he struggled with the tightly wrapped explosive, he didn't notice of the approaching monsters turn its head at his curses.

Hirano set his gun down to lean on a drain pipe so he could use both hands to unwrap the package in his eager hands. The thing behind him was unusually quiet – what actually made him turn around was the sound of fast, heavy footsteps. Hirano turned to the left, missing seeing the zombie behind him and saw Takagi freeze as she entered the courtyard.

"Hirano!" she yelled, causing him to turn. The zombie, right up in his face, finally opened its broken jaw and moaned. The hair stood up on the back of his neck, and he stumbled back, reaching for his gun.

But his only protection stood just out of his reach.

Hirano's eyes widened with shocked fear, and backed himself up against the wall, shielding his face with a yell. Just as his death closed on him, he was tugged out of the way.

He opened his eyes in disbelief to see a girl with two pink pony tails release his arm, tighten her grip on her fire-arm, pivot and thrust the bayonet on her weapon into the monsters throat and into the base of its skull.

It collapsed to the ground with a wet-sounding _thud _and Hirano stared at it with wide eyes.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Saya yelled at him, smacking him upside the head.

He ignored the blow completely, his shoulders shaking slightly. "T-Takagi-san…"

Her gaze softened, and she picked up his weapon, shoving it into his chest.

"It's 'Saya-san' to you, you idiotic fat gun nerd."

She turned and marched out of the courtyard as a bewildered Hirano trailed after her. He smiled as she checked the entrance to the alley-way was still undead free, and slung his gun over his back once more. Saya turned back to him and frowned.

"Don't look so amazed! Don't forget that we still have a job to do!" She scolded.

"Hai," he replied simply, throwing her off her game.

Quickly making their way back to the car park, Hirano and Saya were delighted to see that their efforts had paid off. Even as they watched, the last of the monsters flopped their way off the top of the now uncovered Humvee, and began to shuffle their way in the direction of the explosions.

Waiting a few minutes for the area to completely clear – which took a remarkably short amount of time – Hirano and Saya quickly ran to the up-turned vehicle.

Hirano threw open the door closest to them, and stuck his head inside, rejoicing to see two people lying there.

"Fooouund yoouu!" He cackled evilly, causing the occupants of the vehicle to jump with surprise.

"That voice… Hirano?" Takashi exclaimed before crawling out of the vehicle.

"The one and only," he grinned, fist-bumping his friend.

Behind them, the girl from earlier stiffly crawled out of the car, pulling out an axe behind her. She fixed it to her belt as Takagi reprimanded Takashi for not yet greeting her, and looked up at Hirano who was eyeing her axe warily.

"You two were the ones who set off the explosions?" she asked.

Hirano nodded a confirmation, and she grinned, extending a hand.

"You really saved us. I can't thank you enough!" she said earnestly. Hirano awkwardly took her hand, and she shook it firmly.

"And thanks for not shooting me earlier," she said with a grin.

Hirano's eyes widened, and he laughed. "No worries."

They let their hands falls to their sides, and Miyuki saw Takashi looking at her with an odd expression on his face.

"My name is Miyuki Arakawa. It's fantastic to meet you," she said, addressing them all.

"Kohta Hirano."

"Saya Takagi."

The four smiled at each other – even Saya, despite her initial wariness of Miyuki. Takashi broke the silence as he groaned, working his shoulder in circles to get rid of his cramps.

"So where did you guys hole up?"

"We're not all that far away," Hirano began. "Just down the alleyway in one of the apartment blocks. We're bunked in the foyer, but Busujima-sempai is on the first floor."

"Is she alright?" Takashi asked, his voice lowering in pitch.

"She's fine," drawled Saya. "You can see for yourself – so let's get out of here!"

"Ah…" Miyuki fiddled with her fingers as she spoke, looking at the ground. "If it's alright, I'd like to see her as well, and then I'll get out of your way. I don't want to intrude –"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Takashi exclaimed. The three people with him looked shocked at his response, and he gave a small smile.

"You're definitely welcome to stay with us, Miyuki-san."

The complete surprise on her face slowly faded, and a wide smile took its place.

"Thank you."

Saya handed Takashi and Miyuki the two remaining headlamps, which they clipped onto their foreheads before moving back to the apartment. The group moved faster than they may have normally, but their good spirits motivated them. Hirano moved up to walk with Takashi at the front, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Did you know her before everything began, Komuro? You seemed… forceful earlier."

Takashi rubbed his head and grinned. "Yeah, well, as I found out… she's my friend's sister," he said awkwardly, trying not to relieve bad memories.

Hirano's expression darkened, and he asked no more questions.

They soon arrived at the entrance to the building, and Takashi spied a small shock of pink hair fly from the window. There was some noise on the other side of the door, before it was flung open to reveal a beaming Alice and Rei.

"Takashi!" Rei exclaimed, embracing her friend as he stepped through the door.

"Ahaha, sorry to keep you waiting," he laughed.

Rei's expression quickly changed from delight to anger and she thumped Takashi on the shoulder with her fist. Hard.

As he jumped back in shock, Alice embraced the legs of Hirano and Takagi at the same time laughing happily.

"You did great, Kohta-chan!"

"What about _me _kid?" Saya scolded, pinching Alice's cheeks and stretching them.

"You too Saya onee-chan!"

Miyuki quietly shut the door behind her, and set about dragging the couch that had been blocking the door back in place. Takashi moved to help her, and Rei fell silent as she noticed the new girl.

"Ahh, you helped us earlier right? Thank you so much!" Rei smiled her appreciation.

"I'm Rei Miyamoto!" she introduced herself. She expected a similar response from the girl, not the one she got.

Miyuki's eyes widened, almost as if in fear.

_Of course, _she thought to herself. _It makes sense that she and Takashi would be together…_

Miyuki looked to Takashi with wide eyes, the boy looking like he badly wanted to say something. He looked away to Rei, who seemed confused. As Miyuki looked at the two of them, it clicked into place.

She knew what happened to Hisashi.

* * *

**Act 2: Living with the DEAD**

* * *

_Like a freeze-dried rose, you will never be,  
What you were, what you were to me in memory.  
But if I listen to the dark,  
You'll embrace me like a star,  
Envelope me, envelope me..._

If things get real for me down here,  
Promise to take me to before you went away  
–If only for a day.  
If things get real for me down here,  
Promise to take me back to the tune  
We played before you went away.

_And if I listen to, the sound of white,_  
_Sometimes I hear your smile, and breathe your light._  
_Yeah if I listen to, the sound of white ..._  
_You're my mystery. One mystery. My mystery. One mystery._

_My silence solidifies,_  
_Until that hollow void erases you,_  
_Erases you so I can't feel at all._  
_But if I never feel again, at least that nothingness_  
_Will end the painful dream, of you and me..._  
_If things get real for me down here, promise to take me to_  
_Before you went away, if only for a day._  
_If things get real for me down here, promise to take me back to_  
_The tune we played before you went away._

_And if I listen to, the sound of white_  
_Sometimes I hear your smile, and breathe your light._  
_Yeah if I listen to, the sound of white_  
_Sometimes I hear your smile, and breathe your light._  
_And if I listen to, the sound of white._

* * *

A blonde woman suddenly ran down the staircase, crying out when she saw that everyone had returned safely._  
_

"Komuro-kun!" she exclaimed. Takashi only just managed to avoid her knock-out embrace.

"Hey, sensei," he greeted slowly. Shizuka turned and gasped slightly when she saw Miyuki.

"Oh, I remember you! You helped us out!" Shizuka took Miyuki's hand and wrung it fiercely as she introduced herself. "Fujimi High School's school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa!" Flowers burst into bloom behind her, and Alice gasped in wonder as one of them landed on her nose.

Miyuki freed her hand and stepped back, bowing slightly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Marikawa-san."

Turning to address the whole group, Miyuki took a deep breath.

"My name is Miyuki Arakawa."

There was a pause, before Rei's eyes widened in disbelief.

"You don't mean… _the _Miyuki Arakawa!" she exclaimed, starting forward.

"Oh my!" Shizuka cried, "are you a famous internet idol or something?"

"Aha, no. Nothing like that Marikawa-san." Miyuki assured her. She turned to Rei.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Rei-san."

Rei's eyes began to fill with tears, and she blinked them away furiously before pulling Miyuki into a tight hug. Miyuki looked shocked, but slowly returned the embrace. She looked up to Takashi who was staring at Rei with surprise. He noticed Miyuki's gaze, and he turned away.

Rei pulled back, and smiled at Miyuki.

"It's nice to meet you too, Miyuki-san."

* * *

Have we established that I don't own H.O.T.D.? Good.

I am not associated with the artist Missy Higgins, nor do I own the rights to her song 'The Sound of White'.

I don't know if that was a slightly weird place to end the chapter or not, but it had to end.

A huge thanks to **The Queen of Water, DukeFang **and the anonymous **'Guest' **for your reviews. I'm glad you all seem to be enjoying the story :) And to 'Guest', make that account! I'd be happy to work with you.

Fingers crossed that the formatting will finally work.

Thanks for reading, and drop me a line!

* * *

**NEXT: ACT 3: Searching for the DEAD**


	4. Act 3: Searching for the DEAD

_On the second night since everything began, we realised we were still human when we saved one little girl._

_Now, nearing a week since the beginning of the end, we can't be so sure of that anymore. _

_As much as I will fight to protect my friends, the only thing that has filled my head for this last week was confirming the safety of my family. But what if… what if I'm with my family right now? Would I be willing to sacrifice their safety at the price of my own satisfaction?_

_What kind of a leader am I?_

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

**Act 3: Searching for the DEAD**

* * *

Saeko lay still in the comfy apartment block, peaceful for the time being.

Having slept already and being confined to the bed, she spent the few remaining hours before dawn looking at her surroundings, casting her eyes over the features of the room.

She was lying on a modest double-sized bed covered with a quilt of light blue, brown and cream. It matched the subtle beige colouring of the walls, which were mostly bare excluding a picture of a young man and woman smiling and holding each other as they looked at the camera. Other than the bed there was little furnishing in the room, save for two bedside tables upon which each rested a single lamp, and a wardrobe opposing the bed.

It was a relaxing room, meant only to sleep in. Saeko wouldn't have minded a room like this herself… she couldn't help but wonder how long the young couple had been living together before the outbreak.

The rest of the apartment was much the same. Sparsely furnished and with a newly moved in feel, yet strangely homey and inviting at the same time.

If she wasn't so frustrated she may have appreciated it more.

Saeko thought back to the vexing diagnosis she had received from Shizuka upon their arrival at the apartment block…

"_Busujima-san, this boot needs to come off before I can see how badly you've hurt your ankle," Shizuka began, her bright and bubbly personality hardening into one of calm and clinical professionalism. _

_After nodding her consent, Shizuka crouched and gingerly pulled the long boot off of Saeko's leg, trying to avoid as much discomfort as possible. Saeko was unable to help a grimace of pain as the footwear jostled her already swollen ankle, however Shizuka did not stop until the shoe had been fully removed._

_The next boot came off much faster, and Shizuka looked up to make sure Saeko understood what she was about to do. She reached up under Saeko's skirt to unclip the stockings she wore from her garter – just as Hirano stepped into the room._

_The gun lover froze, and his face went pale with shock._

"_Ah-um, Shizuka-sensei…hmm, um, okay."_

_Saeko watched on, not embarrassed (he couldn't possibly have seen anything) but amused as Hirano tried to find the right words._

"_Uh. Uh! Um, Busujima-sempai, Miyamoto-san and I have checked up to the fifth floor, and most of the apartments units are locked. All of those that aren't are empty, but there were signs of struggling on the fourth staircase going up and around seven… bodies in the elevator."_

"_I see," Saeko said thoughtfully, considering their options as Shizuka began to tick of a medical checklist in her head._

"_Do you think it is necessary to barricade the stairwell?"_

_Hirano shook his head. _

"_Negative. We didn't check all the floors, as there were another five to go, but the stairwells are blocked on each level by a pretty solid door, and we dead bolted all the doors behind us as we came back down. _If _there are any of Them on higher levels they shouldn't be strong or smart enough to break through those four doors, providing we don't make some hellishly loud noise down here. And the elevator is out of commission after the EMP strike."_

_The indigo haired girl nodded to herself as Hirano explained, and smiled up at the boy when he finished._

"_You've done a fine job Hirano-kun. You have my thanks. …Please thank Miyamoto-san for me as well."_

_Hirano nodded and saluted before mumbling something about giving them some space._

"_Ah! Hirano-kun!" Shizuka called out before he could leave._

"_Could you send Takagi-san up here with the bag of medical supplies please? It's the smaller bag that Alice-chan carried."_

_Shizuka smiled winningly, which was unnecessary as Hirano had practically raced out of the door._

_The school nurse turned back to Saeko, and her expression turned serious._

"_Now, there is obviously some nasty swelling here, which instantly stops you from being able to run and jump around. So no action for you." Shizuka waved her pointer finger in Saeko's face warningly._

_She reached out and gently wrapped her fingers around the swelling, prodding at it experimentally._

"_There's some lovely bruising coming through too, but it shouldn't hurt unless you poke it." Saeko began to ask a question but flinched when Shizuka poked the bruise, her finger disappearing into it up to the first knuckle._

_The blonde giggled lightly and jumped in to speak before Saeko could try to interrupt._

"_The good news is that it doesn't feel like it's broken! It's definitely sprained though, and you made it worse by giving it a nasty bang when you fell over. It sounded and looks a lot worse than it actually is which is excellent news, however…"_

_Shizuka trailed off, taking their circumstances and normal procedures into careful consideration. Saeko waited with a growing sense of apprehension as she waited for the verdict. _

_What a pitiful time to become a burden!_

"_Well," Shizuka sighed resignedly, "Under normal circumstances I'd just say get some bed rest and avoid walking on that leg as much as possible. Short, light walks would be fine after a day or two, but…" She paused again, and shot a small smile in Saeko's direction._

"_Truthfully, we all need you. We _need _you to recover quickly. But you need to help yourself to recover, so I want you doing as little as possible until I say otherwise. How long that takes is up to you. But one week at the very least."_

_Saeko was taken aback by the woman's truthful words, and thanked the nurse as she masked her annoyance. Truly, Shizuka was trying to help her as much as she could, but that didn't make it any less frustrating._

_Takagi chose that moment to enter the room. Handing the bag she had brought with her, the teenage genius inspected Saeko's injury for herself, asking a few questions of Shizuka as the blonde began to strap Saeko's ankle in a tight bandage._

_Her work was quick and efficient, and she clipped the end of the bandage down with a little hooked pin._

"_If only we had a pair of crutches…" Shizuka murmured to herself, before instructing Saeko to get some sleep…_

One week… At _least _one week.

They had been hard pressed to survive this last week already, and everyone had been able to work together that entire time! How were the group supposed to double the length of their survival when she could not help them?

Saeko would be patient… however she could not hide her relief when Takashi arrived at the door to help her to the foyer – it was time to reclaim the Humvee.

The group was quick in their preparations, spending little time in distributing the few bags they had with them. Takagi quickly devised the best formation they could move in on their way back to the mall, with Saeko taking the unfamiliar center position with Shizuka and Alice. The plan left Takagi herself to potentially fight and kill the undead, but she shook off Hirano's initial objections.

_Truly, _Saeko thought, _she is becoming a strong woman. _

Not wasting any time in leaving the apartment block, the group made their cautious way back to the mall's car park.

From within the safety of the middle of the group, Saeko looked ahead to the newest member of the team as Miyuki lead the group alongside Takashi. The red head had come to properly introduce herself to Saeko soon after their arrival at the apartment block. They and Takashi had talked for a little while, not about the apocalypse, but just little things about themselves.

Somehow, the topic had never really shifted to their past, but Saeko could tell that Miyuki and Takashi had had some kind of connection before the outbreak. Their leader acted awkwardly around Miyuki… but Saeko didn't want to think she was another Rei. She liked Miyuki.

Her musing was cut short as the group – led by Takashi and Miyuki, guarded on the left and right by Rei and Takagi, and brought up by Hirano – left the alleyway and entered the car park for the last time.

Scoping out the situation, Rei stood guard with her firearm as the rest of the group save for Saeko and Alice got into position to tip the Humvee back on its wheels.

"O-kay people, we do this on my count!" came Alice's commandeering voice as she waved her arms through the air like a conductor for an orchestra. Saeko smiled from her position next to the child, watching the team as their arms settled under the open window sills of the vehicle.

Alice counted down with Zeke barking along with her, and as "3!" left Alice's mouth, four pairs of arms were successful in tipping the vehicle the right way up. Shizuka fluttered around, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had not helped.

Takashi stepped back and dusted off his hands triumphantly.

"Great work guys. Okay, we should get moving as quickly as possible. This is… Teiei Shopping Centre, so…" Takashi's voice trailed off and looked over to Rei.

"That means my house is closest."

Rei, Saya and Hirano all nodded determinedly. As Shizuka slid into the driver's seat, Hirano took shotgun with Alice happily sitting on his lap as she petted Zeke soothingly. Saya helped Saeko into the back seat, and after some consideration insisted she lie out.

Saeko sighed wearily.

"There will be no room if I take up the back seat."

"I can fit in at the end if you sit up against the door, and someone can sit on the floor. But a couple of people will need to get comfy on the roof…" Takagi looked up to Takashi, who immediately volunteered to take the roof, as did Rei.

"…I'll sit on the floor then." Miyuki smiled. Takagi raised her eyebrow at her response.

"Welcome to the group," she said sarcastically.

Miyuki chuckled in response.

"I'll get used to it. It's… well…" she looked around at the group as Takashi helped Rei onto the roof of the vehicle, and as the other members settled themselves inside.

"…Strange not having to make all the decisions now," she finally finished her sentence, taking Saya off guard.

The pink haired girl grinned, and gestured for Miyuki to get in the vehicle.

"You'll see we have a great leader here."

After Miyuki and Takagi had seated themselves inside the vehicle, Shizuka confirmed everyone was set. Takashi opened the hatch from above and leant down to give directions to his house, but warned the nurse not to drive dangerously.

"We're off!" Shizuka exclaimed.

The engine started up with a rumble, and Shizuka spun the wheel to the right. The Humvee turned 180 degrees before the steering wheel was quickly turned to the left, and the group drove out of the car park and onto the street.

The road seemed to be free of Them, and Takagi spoke up from the back seat.

"It should take us about 20 minutes to reach Komuro's house, and it's probably not a good idea to stick around for too long when we get there… we don't want to attract any _unwanted _attention," the genius sighed, and she took off her glasses to polish them of the sleeve of her shirt.

"Is anyone else's houses nearby?" Miyuki asked from her position on the floor.

"Miyamoto-san lives nearby, I think," contributed Hirano from the front. "The leader'll probably want to check the police station too."

"What about yourself, Miyuki-san?" Saeko enquired quietly. "Where do you live?"

"Not too far away. About half an hour away from Takashi's house and towards the south."

The other members in the car raised their eyebrows at Miyuki's referral to Takashi – straight to his first name and without the use of honorifics. Hirano frowned to himself. Just how well did Takashi and Miyuki know each other before the outbreak?

The red head noticed the silence following her response and rubbed her eyes with her hand forcefully. The vehicle was quiet for a time, in which Saeko watched Miyuki as she grew more and more fidgety. She began glancing up to the hatch, and shifting in her seat.

Finally, just as Shizuka announced that they would arrive at Komuro's house in just a few minutes, Miyuki broke.

She was suddenly on her feet, crouched as she reached up to the hatch.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Saya exclaimed, thinking about moving to stop her.

Hirano and Alice turned around just as Miyuki's eyes flicked over to Takagi, to Saeko and then back to the hatch. Before she could hoist herself up, Saeko leaned over to grasp her wrist.

"Whatever it is you need to say, remember that we live in a different world now. You may not all understand that yet."

Miyuki's eyes widened with surprise as Saeko fixed her with a level gaze.

She pulled her hand away, and heaved herself onto the roof of the moving vehicle.

Takagi made to stop her, but was halted by Saeko's outstretched hand.

"She has made this decision, Takagi-san. We have no right to stop her now."

Saya slumped back into her chair and assured Shizuka that everything was alright. Her eyes connected with Hirano's for a moment. He had a strange expression on his face – tender, almost.

Blushing a little, Saya looked back out of the window as they closed in on their destination…

As Miyuki's legs left the interior of the vehicle, she could see the backs of Takashi and Rei, who were facing the direction they had driven from. The dark haired teen must have heard her settle on the roof, because he – and in turn, Rei – turned to face her.

Takashi… already looked like he knew what Miyuki was about to talk about. He looked at the newest addition to the team with muted encouragement in his eyes – better to get this over and done with before they reached his house.

"Is everything okay Miyuki-san?" Rei asked hesitantly.

Miyuki sighed, and shuffled around so that she was sitting cross legged. Her hands rested casually in her lap, and she took a deep breath, as if to compose herself.

"About… Hisashi," she finally began.

Rei immediately looked down at her words and brought a clenched fist to her chest. Takashi seemed apprehensive, and possibly even slightly ill, but his eyes didn't leave Miyuki's as she began to speak.

"You don't mind if I call you by your first names do you?"

Takashi and Rei shook their heads simultaneously.

Miyuki gave a slight smile.

"… You went to the same school, and were in the same class."

Rei grit her teeth, feeling her eyes prickle hotly.

Miyuki continued.

"Takashi, you were his best friend, and Rei was his girlfriend. It makes sense that you would be together at the beginning of the outbreak."

"_What are you doing?"_

"_We're going to need weapons to defend ourselves with."_

"_I have a black belt, so I'll be fine."_

"Hisashi wasn't stupid." Miyuki almost seemed to be talking to herself now, and yet her gaze held Takashi's. Occasionally her eyes would skim over to Rei, whose wide eyes drank in every word that slipped from between Miyuki's lips.

"He was certainly smart enough to stay alive… I'm sure he wouldn't have panicked like many people did."

"_Hisashi, are you alright?"_

"_It's just a scratch, nothing to worry about."_

"He was smart, but he was also strong. He could take care of himself."

Takashi broke Miyuki's gaze, his pained expression masked by his bangs. The red heads eyes slowly closed in response.

"He was such an idiot though; he must have thought that he could take one of Them on bare handed. Taking one of Them on… trying to help someone more like."

Rei looked up sharply, tears beginning to gather in the corners of her eyes.

"_It's Them. They infect you with some kind of disease. We're being attacked by corpses, but this isn't some movie or video game."_

"_So they're Them."_

Miyuki's blue eyes opened with a start.

"But I can't believe that he just died on the spot. He would've kept fighting."

"_What do we do?"_

"_Get up to the observatory. We can block the stairs!"_

As Miyuki didn't continue, Takashi looked up. Besides him, Rei was staring furiously at the ground, her eyes now dry but her cheeks flushed with emotion.

"Taka-" Miyuki began.

"He was bitten." Takashi said abruptly. "We didn't know what would happen. We ran, and hid, but eventually… he began to cough."

Miyuki looked paler than usual, her eyes wide.

"He wanted to remain… _human _until the end, but I-" Takashi's hand balled into a fist. He looked up, straight at Miyuki and told the truth.

"_I want to die as myself."_

"_Can you help me?"_

"I couldn't kill him until after he turned."

The red head was still, processing Takashi's words. Inside the Humvee, Hirano sung softly to Alice and Zeke, hoping to distract them from the sombre words floating in from the roof of the vehicle.

After a minute, Miyuki spoke once more. A sad smile made her look older than she should have at seventeen years of age.

"You were his best friend. He… _Hisashi _would have been so grateful for you stopping him from hurting anyone… As his sister, I can't express this enough…"

Miyuki inhaled deeply, and made sure both Takashi and Rei were looking at her before continuing.

"Thank you."

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

* * *

The group was distracted from their thoughts by Shizuka's quiet call.

"Everyone, we're here."

Takashi shook away his recently relived memories and ducked down to give directions to the school nurse once more.

"Park about halfway down the street. Rei's house isn't too far from here, so we can head there next."

"I can see some of Them!" Rei called from the roof.

The mood instantly turned serious, and everyone readied themselves for the task ahead.

Shizuka cut the engine as Takashi swung down from the roof and opened the driver's door. The Humvee was now parallel to the curb, facing away from Takashi's house. Miyuki and Rei also hopped down, and stood to face the oncoming dead.

"Alright. Shizuka-sensei, you and Alice-chan should stay in the car in case we need a quick getaway. Sorry Saeko-san, but you need to stay put too. We can handle this." Takashi's voice turned serious, and he fixed Saeko with a forceful gaze. The wounded swordswoman nodded, and turned away to hide her frustration.

"Takagi, I need you to stay and guard the people here. You'll need to get word to us quickly if any more of Them come so we can make a quick getaway."

Saya nodded, and grabbed her weapon before vaulting out of the car. She came around to Takashi's side and immediately began scanning the area in front of the Humvee. Takashi quickly walked to the girls as Hirano awkwardly transitioned Alice off of his lap and climbed out of the passenger's seat.

"Me, Rei, Miyuki and Hirano will go inside and check to see if… if anyone's home. Hirano, we may need you by one of the upper floor windows as a sniper _if _things get bad." Takashi continued.

Hirano's glasses flashed as he nodded, and he saluted to his friend and leader with a grin.

"It's not going to get bad, so long as _They _don't bother us," Rei spoke up, pointing to the small group of undead that were approaching from a distance.

"Six… no, seven of Them. That's not too bad." Takashi said to himself.

"So long as we stick together and don't start shouting at each other, we'll be fine." Miyuki added somewhat cynically as she looked after the approaching threat.

Rei and Takashi looked at her with raised eyebrows, and she turned to them with a shrug.

"Past experience," the red head said bluntly.

A shadow passed over Takashi's face, and he hoisted his gun in front of him.

"We'll want to advance as a unit. I'll take point, and you Rei," he pointed to the teen, "will cover my left side while Miyuki," he pointed to her, "will cover my right. Hirano," Takashi pointed to him as he joined them, "will bring up the rear and make sure we aren't surprised by anything from behind."

"T-" Saeko tried from the backseat of the Humvee, but Takashi cut her off before she could even begin.

"I haven't got my hopes too high, but I still need to check." He said morosely.

The indigo headed girl frowned slightly, before opening her mouth once more.

"If I were able to help you, I would volunteer to lead. As it is, I think it is Miyuki-san who should enter first." Her words were calm, calculated and heartfelt – much like herself.

Takashi looked over to her in surprise, his brown eyes wide.

"You may not be able to defend yourself in the event of the worst case scenario," Saeko elaborated, her eyes searching Takashi's for his reaction.

The leader swallowed hard, but nodded.

The worst case scenario… the worst case scenario being that his family were dead and waiting to kill him too.

In turn, Miyuki looked at Saeko with carelessly veiled shock. Killing Takashi's family… she knew she could do it in the heat of the moment. Hell, killing Them was all they had been doing since everything began. Killing and running.

So yeah, she could kill Takashi's family if she had to. How that would affect him was another thing entirely.

"…We won't be long," Takashi informed the members of the group who were staying outside. He stepped back to allow Miyuki to take the lead. It wasn't an unfamiliar position for her to be in, but this time it felt different.

This wasn't a group of people who were going to turn their backs on each other at the first sign of danger. It wasn't a group that cared more about their own personal gain and glory over the safety of others, and it wasn't a group that was being blindly led into the dark by someone drunk on their own perverse desire for power.

This was a group of survivors, and she was going to make damn sure that she survived with them.

The unit of four began to quickly make their way towards the Komuro household, and Takashi and Rei were discouraged that the only moving people on the street were dead.

The four took particular note of the dead that had been initially moving towards the Humvee, and were relieved to see that they appeared to have either lost interest, or had forgotten that they had made any noise in the first place.

They reached the curb, and Miyuki turned back to look at the leader.

"How do you want to do this?"

Takashi didn't take long to answer – he'd been thinking about this during the first half of the trip.

"We'll circle around the back – if my mum _is _inside I don't want to scare her by barging in through the front door – and check to make sure the outside is secure. We'll see if we can break in through the back and then check the house from the bottom to top floor," he said with conviction.

"Won't your mum freak out _more _if we break in through the back?" asked Rei, sarcasm colouring her tone.

"I'll handle that," Takashi said surprisingly.

Hirano took Takashi's vague reply in stride and motioned forwards with his gun.

"After you ladies."

Trying not to roll her eyes, Miyuki stepped forward and onto the property. The Komuro household was quite modest, and much smaller than the Takagi manor. It was a two storey building, relatively modern looking with a small expanse of unruly grass growing out the front.

Their feet crunched over the grass that was slowly dying without a gardener's care, and the team approached the gate which separated the front yard from the back at a moderate pace.

The metal gate stood disturbingly wide open, and Miyuki had taken nigh on a step into the back yard before Takashi pulled her up.

An arm, soon followed by the rest of the zombie's rotting body, appeared around the corner. It hadn't noticed them, and Miyuki's eyes flickered back and forth between Takashi and the monster.

He had that look in his eyes. He recognised the woman in front of him.

"My God… that's Mayanoka-san from across the road!" Rei exclaimed as she identified the monster, her shock causing her to forget the need for silence.

Takashi started at Rei's words, and began to run forward. He drew back his weapon, preparing to use it to club the woman over the head and froze as her dead eyes swung around to meet his.

This… this was the woman who always gave him cookies as a kid. Even when his mum had told him he couldn't have any more, Mayanoka-san would _always _sneak him just one more.

The monster – formerly kind Mayanoka-san – reached out to the frozen teen, and as his conscious sluggishly tried to keep up, the monster fell to the ground with a clean gouge in the base of its skull.

His arms shook slightly, but Miyuki had already whipped around the corner. Shaking himself, Takashi closely followed by the shaken Rei and focused Hirano, quickly manoeuvred the corner. Miyuki was in the far corner of the small yard, and at her feet was yet another woman turned monster.

It's left leg had been lacerated severely enough by one of Miyuki's blades that it was unable to stand. Takashi shook his head at Miyuki's blank gaze. Not his mother.

The red head nodded, and disposed of the monster with a quick bash from the hilt of her weapon. Miyuki turned and made her way back to Takashi, before a guttural groan filled the air.

The third monster stepped out from an obscure corner of the yard that was filled with climber plants which covered the western wall. This one was male – and unnervingly dressed in Fujimi High School's uniform.

He had certainly been no older than they were.

Takashi let out a growl, and now wasted no time in swinging his gun around and smashing the zombie's skull in.

"We're clear, Komuro," Hirano said cleanly as the monster fell to the ground. "We'll need to be wary of the situation inside."

Takashi nodded and set about removing the window to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Rei and Miyuki were looking at Hirano with surprise on their faces.

"You're kind of impressive, Hirano," Miyuki said in slight awe.

Kohta just chuckled and scratched his head.

Takashi stepped away from his handiwork, and broke away from Saeko's suggested formation by entering the house first. They couldn't blame him.

Miyuki and Rei were quick to follow. (When they told the story later, Hirano chose not to mention his own furious tussle with the window.)

It was clear that the kitchen was empty. However the cupboards hung open and packets of foodstuffs had been knocked off the counter and onto the floor. Upon further inspection, they found that most of the cupboards were empty. There was no canned food of any description remaining, and after Hirano opened the fridge a mild sour smell filled the air.

A couple of plastic wrapped schnitzels, a block of spotty cheese and a half empty carton of milk looked to be the culprit.

The discoveries made them uneasy, and the group – back in proper formation – moved clockwise through the house, doing a thorough check after the sudden arrival of the teenage monster in the backyard.

The lounge, dining and bathroom area looked completely normal. Asides from the fine layer of dust that had already settled over everything, the house seemed much the same as it had when Takashi had left for school seven days ago.

Seven days that felt like a lifetime.

The group moved back through the house to the garage. It was a small area – and it was empty of any vehicles.

"…I remember that mum caught a bus to her elementary school that day," said Takashi, referring to the day of the outbreak.

"So she came back here?" Rei asked, hope lighting up her features.

"If she did, she was in a hurry," Hirano pointed out, looking specifically at the tire marks on the cement floor.

"But the rest of the house seemed normal…" Rei murmured.

"Let's keep checking – we don't want to be here for too long." Miyuki was looking around the room as she spoke, as if checking for something.

"What is it?" Takashi asked suddenly.

"It's just… if your mum caught the bus, would she really have come back here to grab a vehicle? And the kitchen was a mess too…" Miyuki mused aloud.

She shook her head and moved back to the doorway. Moving slower than earlier, Takashi, Rei and Hirano followed.

Motioning to the right, Takashi gestured towards the staircase.

Miyuki had taken two steps when she paused, and raised her twin blades in front of her. She turned her head back and mouthed two words.

_The carpet._

The three behind looked past her to the staircase – in particular, the carpet runner that ran down the middle of the wooden steps. It was all bunched up towards the top of the staircase, as if someone had kicked it behind them when they were fleeing down the stairs.

The group slowly ascended the staircase.

They placed their footsteps slowly, carefully, attempting to make as little noise as possible. Three stairs from the top, and Takashi's pulse was thumping in his ears, and sweat rolled off the tip of his nose as his anticipation for what they would find grew.

Immediately next to the top of the staircase to the left – his parents room.

Takashi inches past Miyuki at the landing to the master bedroom, and instinctively raised his Ithaca in front of him; _ready to shoot!_

He kicked the door open and pointed the barrel of his gun directly at… a note pinned to the wardrobe door.

The leader slumped in the doorframe, recovering from the anticlimax of the discovery.

The room was obviously empty… but he stepped back and pushed past his friends.

"What about the note, Takashi?" Rei asked.

"We still have the upstairs bathroom and my room to go. The note can wa-"

"Read it, Takashi-san," Miyuki cut him off with a small smile. "We'll finish checking up."

Takashi was still for a moment, his mouth open in a comical 'o' reminiscent of when he was a child. He eventually closed his mouth, and nodded. He turned back to his room with Rei at his back.

Hirano and Miyuki quickly confirmed the upstairs bathroom was empty, and stepped into Takashi's bedroom.

It was a pretty typical room – a messy, unmade bed took up most of the space, covered with navy sheets. There was a small closest which stood open against the wall, and a moderately sized desk, upon which rested an open laptop and an adjustable lamp. Next to the desk were three shelves, upon which were stored several manga and some game boxes. There were a fair number of posters on the wall – mostly of manga characters and musicians, but Miyuki spotted two of posing girls in bikinis. Those two posters were right next to the closet against the wall, and on the wall to the right of the bed.

It was almost as if Takashi had put them up half-heartedly – they weren't in places you could easily notice them, especially from the bed and desk.

After they confirmed the room was clear, Hirano moved to the window, and pulled up the pane of glass to look outside.

From their position, they could clearly see the group camped out at the Humvee. Saya was looking steadily to her right, and Hirano looked left to see what she was looking at. His expression fell at what he saw.

The numbers of the undead had swelled to over twenty in the time they had been in Takashi's house, drawn by something unknown. They were still quite far down the street, and Saya obviously hadn't thought them a big enough threat to shout for them yet.

Hirano brought his gun over the edge of the windowsill. There was something about this scene…

A shout.

"_Takagi-san!"_

Miyuki, who was further back in the room, quickly moved to the window.

"Did you hear that?" She asked hurriedly, taking in the scene.

The shout had only just carried to the house – whoever had screamed had remembered not to be _too _loud in any case.

A relatively small number of undead had effectively jumped the Humvee, appearing from behind as Saya's focus had been on the larger number of zombies in the opposite direction.

The pink head spun around in shock, and Hirano jumped into action. Getting a solid stance on the floor, he braced the butt of his weapon under his arm, and raised the scope to his sights. He adjusted his grip, aim, accorded for the slight breeze and squeezed the trigger.

Miyuki raced back to the door, leaving Hirano to his scary talents and headed to the master bedroom. She burst through the door, quickly taking in the scene: Rei stood too close to Takashi's elbow, leaning over his side and she stared at the note he held. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes looked watery. Takashi seemed stunned, paying no attention to anything other than the A4 piece of paper. The red head had to snap them out of their reverie.

"We have to go. Now."

* * *

"_Takagi-san!" _Came Saeko's cry from within the Humvee.

Saya spun around, and her eyes went wide with shock.

Just five feet away were five stumbling ex-humans, their flesh an ashy grey in the mid-morning light.

Completely forgetting her protocol to call for help, Takagi raised her new gun in front of her, the tip of the bayonet shaking slightly as a result of her nerves.

Not that she would get a chance to use it.

Inside the vehicle, Alice was beating a fist against the window, and almost looked as if she were… cheering?

That broke through to Saya, and suddenly the bayonet was held level in the air.

She raised the gun to her chest, and set the closest monster in her sights.

There was no way she could miss.

She was a genius after all.

_Bang!_

She squeezed the trigger, and halfway through the motion, the zombie collapsed.

_What the…?_

Saya turned back to Takashi's house, and raised her hand to her forehead as the sunlight glinted off of something.

She was met with a crazy gun nerd grinning like crazy as he pulled his trigger twice more. Two more monsters fell to the ground.

Before he could get off another shot, Takagi spun and pulled the trigger almost instinctively. The next undead fell silently to the floor, and her ears rung with triumph.

She turned to look back up and smirk at Hirano, but he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the front door was flung open, and four people ran out, led by Takashi.

He ran at a remarkable speed, and as Hirano brought up the rear, Takashi raised his gun and efficiently crushed the skull of the remaining monster.

By this time, Shizuka had geared the vehicle into life, and Saya hopped back into the backseat as Takashi quickly helped Rei onto the roof. He hopped up behind her as Hirano jumped into the front seat, having a quick reunion with Alice before slamming the door shut.

There was no need for subtlety now – the horde was approaching.

Miyuki backed towards the vehicle, and Shizuka swung it around to face the horde under Takashi hurried instructions. Saeko swung the backdoor open, and Miyuki stepped into it backwards, awkwardly twisting to avoid knocking Saeko's foot.

The door was shut, and the accelerator pressed to the floor. They approached the slowing growing number of zombies at high speed, managing to knock over two as they sped past.

On the roof, Takashi slumped and again raked his eyes over the note from Tadashi Miyamoto.

It was the only lead they had at the moment.

* * *

_First I was a hatchling waiting for my little bones to form  
Next I was a fledging leaping from the nest despite the fall  
Oh they fall, how we fall  
But if I speak to you of days upon the ocean  
I can speak to you of memories and dust  
There won't be time for all of us,  
I know there won't be time for all of us_

_I landed in the garden longing for the view behind the fence_  
_Oh my god_  
_I prayed my bones weren't brittle_  
_For the air we float on can feel dense_  
_Oh the weight of it aches_  
_But if I speak to you of days upon the ocean_  
_I can speak to you of memories and dust_  
_There won't be time for all us,_  
_I know there won't be time for all of us_

_'cause I saw two fall before they were ready to_  
_And I found no sense or gain to bear the cost_  
_Comfort comes to those with faith in mysterious ways_  
_But for me faith don't make up for what we lost_

_But if I speak to you of days upon the ocean_  
_I can speak to you of memories and dust_  
_There won't be time for all us,_  
_I know there won't be time for all of us_

_But in the morning I can smell you on my pillow_  
_I need to know we won't get wrung out in the wash_  
_I need to know there's time for us_  
_I must believe there's time for some of us_

_'cause I saw two fall before they were ready to_  
_And I found no sense or gain to bear the cost_  
_Comfort comes to those with faith in mysterious ways_  
_But for me faith don't make up for what we lost_

* * *

Takashi leaned back over the hatch to explain the situation.

"We made too much noise here, and Rei's house is too close to go straight there now. Sorry," he added on, although the ginger remained unseen to those inside the Humvee.

"So we have to wait for things to quiet down a little bit, and then check the police station first," the leader continued.

"Shizuka-sensei, can you drive about for a little bit and gradually head east? Try to avoid Them as much as possible." Takashi sat back, now out of sight once more.

"Can do," the blonde said cheerfully. Miyuki rose quickly, and stood with her chest, arms and head above the roof.

"Hey," she said softly, drawing Takashi and Rei's attention.

"I shouldn't have brought up the past so close to your house Takashi. I don't want to… distract you." Miyuki had been going to say 'upset', but she wasn't willing to even bring the word up yet.

Rei shook her head slowly, and kindly smiled.

"We all know where we stand now… we just need to stick together." Her voice broke slightly, but Miyuki overlooked it.

"Good news?" She asked, motioning towards the note that Takashi held.

"I guess so," he said as he raked his hand through his hair.

"Yes!" Rei said quickly at the same time. There was an awkward pause, before Takashi cleared his throat and elaborated.

"It's from Rei's dad. I guess it was written before the EMP strike."

So he could be anywhere, or any_thing _by now. But Miyuki decided to keep that particular thought to herself.

"So we know he's okay at least." Takashi continued, by deliberately kept his gaze away from Rei.

"The only problem is that he also says that most of the escape routes out of the city – and even out of Japan – are either blocked off, overrun or under lockdown. Basically…"

"We can't get out of the city."

* * *

I am not associated with the artist Josh Pyke, nor do I own the rights to his song 'Memories and Dust'.

Sorry for taking such a long time to update! Because of a little thing called life, I have been very busy. It shouldn't take me quite so long to update in the future though.

Also, if I were to write a supplementary story about Miyuki's survival story up until she meets up with Team Takashi, would anyone be interested? I'm writing and posting it anyway, but I'm curious xD

Thank you to **Alex Mercer, The Queen of Water, **the anonymous **'X' **and **MikeOfTheDead **for reviewing. To 'X': I'm doing the best I can! I'm really glad you're enjoying it :)

Thanks for reading, and please review!

* * *

**NEXT: ACT 4: Japan's finest DEAD**


	5. Act 4: Japan's Finest DEAD

_Before everything began, chances are each of us would have been complaining about the weather, or about walking everywhere in this kind of situation…_

_In school the teachers used to talk about reforming the students, putting us through 'real life' situations so we would realise how lucky we were and how cruel life could be to less fortunate people._

_I don't know if we're lucky or not, being some of the few survivors of the apocalypse. Some would argue that it would be better to just give up, to becoming another nameless corpse, oblivious to the world's downfall… _

_This is the biggest 'real life' situation we've ever been through, and it sure as hell has taught me one thing. _

_Reality is cruel._

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

**Act 4: Japan's Finest DEAD**

* * *

_Rei didn't have to crane her neck far to look up at her mother and father anymore. Although her dad still stood several inches higher than she did, Rei was nearly the same height as her mother. Kiriko fake-complained about it sometimes, but then she would pull her daughter into a tight hug and they would laugh together._

_Despite the fact that Rei was now fourteen years of age and about to graduate from middle school, she still visited her father at work on quieter days. Today however, she was arriving with_ _her mother and father together._

_The Miyamoto family. Tadashi on Rei's right, Kiriko on her left. Between her mum and dad she felt completely safe, even though she would complain a bit when they wanted to hold hands with her. They were walking along the sidewalk that led up to Tokonosu Police Station, where her dad worked as an officer._

_Right now her parents were trying to swing her up in the air like when she was little, and though they could pull Rei's arms above her head, they could no longer lift her off the ground. Rei shook her hands free from her parent's grip, in turn stirring her ginger hair so that it temporarily covered her amber eyes._

"_Well, fine then," her mum humphed, crossing her arms and turning up her nose. Kiriko was almost the spitting image of Rei, although she wore her hair short. Even their 'antennae' as Tadashi jokingly called them were very similar, although Kiriko's rested flatter on her head._

"_Aw, come on honey," grinned police officer T. Miyamoto, "our little Rei's growing up." He finished his sentence with a warm smile that all but melted his wife's heart. Tadashi had amber coloured eyes much like his wife and daughter, but had contrasting jet black hair. He had tanned skin, a solid build, and his beard was neatly trimmed._

"_Yes I know. And you're doing so well at school! You're definitely setting yourself up for a great future… oh!" Kiriko gasped as a thought came to her._

"_But you're going to start wanting to go out with boys, and you won't want to spend any time with me, and-"_

"_Mum. _Please _stop talking," Rei groaned with a smile, knowing what was coming next. It was practically routine in the Miyamoto family. First her mum would pretend to freak out, and then –_

_Kiriko swept her up in a giant bear hug, practically squeezing the air out of her body._

"_Mum! Can't. Breathe!"_

_Kiriko deposited Rei back on the ground with a smile, and Tadashi rubbed his daughters head affectionately._

"_That reminds me, how's it going with young Takashi-kun, eh?" he asked mischievously as they turned onto the cobbled path._

_Rei's cheeks burned red and she demanded to know why he cared._

_Tadashi chuckled heartily, before his expression snapped into a seriously deadly gaze. His fingers slowly travelled to the handgun he wore at his hip and his voice boomed menacingly._

"_Because he'll have to prove himself worthy to me first!"_

_Rei blustered about, trying to form a response._

"_What are you talking about? Of course –"_

_A crash from within the building cut her off, and the Miyamoto family paused outside of the entrance to the police station._

"_I hardly did anything! That kid completely messes me up, and _I _get seven years of my life taken away from me?!" _

_A man was screaming inside the building, and Rei stepped back in fear. Kiriko pulled her daughter into her arms and moved in front of her as Tadashi pulled out his gun and warned them back._

_Giving his wife a hard look, officer T. Miyamoto turned back to the station and raised his right foot…_

The door to the police station flew inward as Takashi kicked it open, revealing he and the rest of the survivors behind him. After quickly looking around, he cautioned everyone through the door. Miyuki grabbed Rei by the wrist as they moved in, and Rei confusedly tried to shake away the rest of her déjà vu.

_Takashi…_

It had been a short trip to the police station. Normally it would only have taken about 10 minutes by foot, but their trip from a park near Takashi's house had been without the Humvee _and _hampered by the dead.

As such, sixty minutes of travel by foot didn't seem such a long time. Especially when there were wounded in the group.

Every hard step of that sixty minute walk, Saeko had cursed her bung ankle. She was well aware that she was slowing the group down, but Takashi refused to move on ahead no matter how many times Saeko said they should do so.

They had left the Humvee in the park so that they wouldn't draw attention to their destination by arriving noisily. It made sense, but the alternative was… painful.

Now that they had finally arrived, it was time to get some answers about Rei's father.

The foyer of the police station seemed to be deserted. A few sheets of paper drifted to the ground in the breeze from the now opened door, but otherwise all was still.

The reception desk was a large arcing table which took up a majority of the space. There were two or three computers visible on a lower shelf behind the desk, and a formerly neat stack of paper that was now settling on the linoleum floor. There were four small stands on the desk which displayed contact numbers to various helplines. Behind the desk was a window covered by closed blinds, which presumably made up one of the walls to the room behind the desk.

There were a few chairs lining the walls, and some brochures about public safety on a display shelf. On the far wall was a detailed floor plan of the building, and an index of the rooms in the station. To the left was a water cooler, and on either side of the reception desk were narrow stairwells leading up to some higher level.

It was apparent that the foyer was empty.

Takashi motioned to the group, and they moved around behind the desk to check out the room behind it. Takashi threw open the door and was met with a musty smell.

It was a small, crowded room overflowing with filing cabinets, stacks of boxes and three small safes. Empty of anyone or anything, but upstairs could be a different story altogether.

"Shizuka-sensei, Saeko-san and Alice-chan. Stay down here and see if you can find anything that may be useful in that storage room. Maps, supply lists…" Takashi trailed off.

"The location of any weapons or ammunition being held here, passwords, safe combinations, and any other information that could be useful to us." Takagi brashly filled in.

Shizuka nodded cheerily, and gracelessly leant forward to fumble with one of the three safes. Everyone else moved back into the foyer, and Alice ran to drag Saeko a chair from the small seating area.

"Arigato," the indigo haired teen said quietly, looking contemplatively after Takashi who was busy watching Rei. The ginger looked anxious, shifting her weight from foot to foot, her cheeks changing back and forth from bright red to chalky pale.

Saeko frowned lightly as Takashi moved to steady her, but her eyes widened as Miyuki got there first. The redhead fixed Rei with a seemingly stern gaze, and said something which changed Rei's sombre expression into one of surprise. The ginger seemed to gather some resolve, and she nodded determinedly.

Saeko was curious as to what Miyuki had said, but looked up as Takashi came over to her seated position.

"We won't take long, Saeko-san. We'll be back before you know it."

"I know you will Ko- … Takashi." Saeko corrected herself slowly. Their relationship had moved past using last names now.

If Takashi was surprised by the change, he did a good job of hiding it. He smiled and nodded firmly at her, before turning around again and got those who were going upstairs in the same position as when they were travelling to the Humvee.

"I'm up front Takashi," Rei said suddenly.

Takashi frowned, and turned to his childhood friend. Since the group had appointed him as the leader, this was the first time anyone had questioned his judgement.

"Rei, I don't think that's the best – "

"_I'm up front Takashi," _she cut him off forcefully, her eyes flashing.

The leader sighed and, after running a hand through his hair, turned to Miyuki.

"Can you take the left?" He asked, a weary tone suddenly dragging at his tone.

"Sure, I will." Miyuki replied gently, meaning to help both Takashi and Rei with her assent.

They moved into formation quickly, acting with a higher degree of professionalism than when everything began. The events post-outbreak had changed them, probably forever. Not all of the members in the group counted themselves as killers – They _were _dead after all. Some of the group would never be able to kill the living – in fact it was something they would avoid at all costs. Some were prepared to kill the living, if only to protect themselves and their friends.

But some members of the group _had_ killed the living, and the effects of doing so remained to be seen.

Leaving Saeko, Shizuka and Alice downstairs, Takashi's group quickly ascended the staircase. The stairwell opened out into an average corridor which led off into several rooms on the left and right. The floor was tiled grey, which matched the walls. The doors were painted white, and each had a small metallic name or room number plate hung in the middle of it. Each room had a window, but white blinds blocked any of the interior from view.

It was deserted.

"We move up the corridor along the right, checking each room as we go, then come back down the left hand side. If you see anyone… or any_thing_, call out _straight away. _Rei's dad will be holed up in one of these rooms if he's here, so if you spot movement, don't attack unless you have confirmed that it's dead." Takashi clarified. Everyone nodded, and readied their stances.

The first room was nigh on three meters away. Takashi approached it cautiously, and reached out to place his hand on the doorknob. Feeling Rei's stare on the back of his neck, Takashi let out a breath and turned the knob.

It turned easily at his touch. Unlocked. He swung the door open, and was met with an anti-climatically normal looking room. The afternoon sunlight weakly filtered in through the window, lighting it up a slightly brighter grey.

It didn't take long to confirm that the small room was empty – it looked like one of those still life pictures, almost like a photograph.

They moved back into the corridor, and quickly advanced to the next door. Same story.

In fact, all twelve of the rooms that lined the right side of the corridor were completely unlocked and empty. Some looked normal like the first room, though some others were in disarray, as if their occupants had quickly jumped up and run out of the room, knocking things over in their haste.

Rei was steadily getting more distressed, and it seemed to escalate dramatically as the group crossed over to the left hand side of the corridor.

"You okay?" Takashi asked concernedly.

"Fine. Completely fine." Rei brushed him off. It didn't convince him one bit, but Takashi chose not to comment on it. Rei had every right to be worried sick right now.

"Hey, that room doesn't have a name plate on it," Hirano commented, referring to the door right in front of them.

"Does that mean something?" Takashi asked, unconsciously turning to Saya, who smirked at his unspoken acknowledgement of her intelligence.

She flipped her pink hair confidently, and raised a finger. "If the door hasn't got a number on it, then there's probably something worthwhile in there." Takagi said confidently.

"How do you figure?" Takashi asked again dubiously. It seemed a bit far-fetched. Wasn't this just a regular door without a name plate?

"_Because _the police force isn't just going to let anyone walk in here and take guns and drugs or something whenever they feel like it. So, they don't number the supply cache so people don't know it's there. Otherwise anyone could come in and steal from it." Takagi said explained exasperatedly.

"Didn't you see the floor plan and room index in the foyer? This room wasn't listed, so no one except the police are going to know this room is here. They would only go to such measures if there was something of worth to hide," the genius concluded with a self-assured grin.

"Aah, I get it, I get it. We need to get into this room." Takashi quickly said, mainly to stop Saya from giving him an ultimatum.

Unhesitatingly, Takashi reached out to open the door. This one was locked.

"Huh? But all the other ones were open…"

Takagi sighed despairingly and shook her head.

"Didn't you listen to what I told you at all? Of course this door would have been locked. No one would've been _in _there if it's a storage room."

Takashi paused, and his face turned desolate as he realised his mistake.

"Uh, right. In that case-!"

He reared himself back, and prepared to kick the door in.

"Wait!" Hirano called out. The gun lover stepped forward, and pulled Takashi away from the door.

"Please, allow me to have this opportunity. It's time… to prove myself as a man!" Kohta's glasses flashed, and his trademark grin was enough for Takashi to scramble back quickly.

Hirano readied himself, and, with an unwarranted battle cry, charged at the door.

He'd expected it to burst open, and leave him standing strongly in the door frame. In Hirano's eyes, he stood regal and proud (he'd also grown a few inches) and Saya would come up to him and say how great he was for knocking the door down, and she's stand up on her tiptoes and-

Hirano sailed right through the door, and tumbled over his head as he landed in a rotund heap on the ground.

Ignored by his friends for the time being, they filed in behind, each neatly stepping over Kohta as he groaned and surreptitiously rubbed his head.

Saya turned back to examine the lock.

"Huh. Looks like the metal tab is rusted. It wasn't strong to begin with."

Kohta groaned on the floor, and clambered to his feet to get a look at the room.

"Wow," Miyuki murmured.

The room, although not overly large, was lined with filing cabinets and cupboards, all of which were locked. A small walkway of space led up the middle of the room, and everything was organised categorically by both number and alphabet.

Takashi moved down the aisle, and he and Miyuki scanned the plaques that kept everything organised. Rei was lingering in the doorway, constantly checking over her shoulder and visibly clenching and unclenching her fists.

Almost as if on cue, Takashi turned back to his friend and noted her distress. He may not have been in a relationship with her like he once wanted, but he still knew his Rei.

Do _I still want a relationship with her? _He unwittingly thought. He wanted to protect her, and he definitely wanted to see her happy. He'd definitely wanted her before everything began, and he'd wanted her in the days since.

But… she had chosen Hisashi. He wasn't ignoring that anymore.

'_Humans chose not to see what they don't want to.'_

Hirano's words couldn't have been truer. And Takashi hadn't even realised it until Hirano had spelt it out for him. He had all but disregarded Rei's and Hisashi's relationship because he hadn't wanted to believe it was true – hell, he'd even blamed his problems on Hisashi for a while. Not that Hisashi had known anything about Rei and Takashi's past.

_Would he have gone out with her if he'd known?_

Probably not. At the very least Hisashi would have made absolutely sure that there were no hard feelings between the three of them.

Takashi felt constantly reminded about his past every time he saw Hisashi's little sister. He looked over to Miyuki: garbed in black, blades strapped to her back, and weapons on her belt. She had the look in her eyes that everyone had these days. The look that betrayed the horrors they had all lived through.

Now, because of Miyuki's arrival, he had someone else he was determined to protect. He wasn't about to let anything happen to Hisashi's little sister.

"Hirano. Takagi-"

"It's Saya!" he was quickly scorned.

Takashi nodded absentmindedly. "Right. Hirano and Saya. Stay here and get some of these doors open – there are bound to be useful weapons in here."

"As for the rest of us-!"

Takashi cut himself off with a muted yell as Rei broke. The ginger practically growled, and turned to sprint back down the corridor.

"Rei!" He stage-screamed, trying to stop her but without making too much noise.

"This is my dad's room!" His friend cried as she skidded to a stop outside one of the largest rooms they hadn't come to yet.

Before anyone could stop her, Rei wrenched over the door and leapt heedlessly into the room with a look of reckless desperation on her teary face.

"_Dad!"_

* * *

Down in the foyer, Shizuka was busy happily bumbling around the filing room behind the reception desk. Sitting comfortably under the shadow of the school nurse's protruding bosom, Alice was studiously rifling through the lower drawers of a filing cabinet that contained details of cases the Tokonosu force has dealt with over the last few years.

The town was pretty tame most of the time, but Tokonosu had harboured criminals before. Granted, most of them were dead now. Or undead, depending on how you viewed the matter.

Saeko still sat on her chair in the waiting area, her fingers wrapped around the hilt of the katana she had insisted on wearing despite her inability to wield it. She looked up through her dark bangs as Shizuka groaned and stepped out of the filing room, lugging a small safe in her arms.

"Ooooh," she moaned, "I just can't get this thing open. I bet it contains something valuable!" Shizuka exclaimed dreamily.

Saeko smiled.

"Perhaps, but I doubt it will contain jewellery, if that's what you were thinking of."

"Hmph. Why are you so uncaring towards fashion?" Shizuka retorted, a slight tilt in her voice.

"I am not. I believe that a woman should look attractive; however I do not believe such accessories are necessary. It is possible to be becoming without them. And I feel that we ought to concern ourselves more with our attachments to each other, rather than to our clothing." Saeko smoothly replied.

Shizuka waved away her words and stood to get a cup of water from the water cooler across the room.

Saeko grinned after the nurse – she was funny in an endearing sort of way.

As was the youngest member of the group, although Alice was looking more confused than endearing as she appeared form behind the desk with a file clutched in her hand.

"Nani?" Saeko asked the seven year old curiously.

"Nee-chan…" Alice began as she held up the document that was labelled to be four years old.

"Why are you in here?"

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

* * *

"_Dad!"_

The door flew inward, and smacked hard against the wall. Takashi grimaced, and automatically drew his weapon to his chest as he and the rest of the group quickly followed Rei down the hallway.

There was no reaction to the loud noise – the police station was truly empty.

But Rei was desperate, and desperate people tended to ignore logic.

"Dad?"

The conference room was a mess. Paper littered the floor, and the large square table in the middle of the room was askew. Discarded cups of coffee had fallen to the floor, spilling their contents over the paper and carpet. Books, chairs and wastepaper bins alike had been upturned, and there were pens and pencils scattered everywhere.

"He… he's not here," Rei trembled, and collapsed in the doorframe.

"Whoa there!" Takashi ran forward and grabbed his friend before she hit the ground. Rei ignored his actions and stared blankly ahead. Her shoulders shook under his hands, and her eyes could be mistaken for those of the dead.

Takashi pulled Rei back up, and the rest of the group filed into the room, averting their eyes from the couple with worried expressions.

"Takashi…" Rei turned to the leader with a broken expression, teary eyed and red cheeked.

Takashi grimaced, and in that moment swore to himself that he would find a reason for Rei to smile again.

He stood straight and turned to his friends.

"Is there anything in here?"

"What about that?" Miyuki asked, pointing to a revolving whiteboard on the opposite side of the room from her.

Saya, who was closest to the board, moved over to it and quickly spun it around:

_All citizens – The Tokonosu Police force are issuing an evacuation from Shintoko Third Elementary on April 22__nd__! No bitten people will be admitted. Shintoko Third Elementary, April 22__nd__!_

Rei gasped, and clutched her face with her hands at the information.

"That hand writing! It's my dad's!"

She turned and flung herself into Takashi's arms as their leader stood frozen at the information. Not noticing his condition, Rei began babbling excitedly.

"Oh God, thank God! I'm so happy he's alive!"

Saya, Kohta and Miyuki smiled at the two, although Takashi's reaction to the news wasn't lost on any of them.

"Takashi?" Miyuki inquired cautiously, hesitant to interrupt the moment.

The teen shook his head slightly, and somewhat awkwardly patted Rei on the back. He stepped back, leaving his hands on her shoulder as he looked up at his friends.

Rei looked around in slight confusion, and looked at the message again. Her eyes widened suddenly and she spun back to Takashi.

"Shintoko Third Elementary, Takashi!" She exclaimed.

He nodded to her.

"Yeah… my mum's school." He said with a smile.

"If the evacuation is happening at her school, then there's a good chance she's survived Komuro!" Hirano blurted out animatedly.

"That's good news," Miyuki said with a small smile.

"Yeah… I can't wait to see her," Takashi admitted as he scratched his head.

Miyuki's blue eyes looked at him curiously, and she tilted her head to the side.

"You must love her very much." She smiled.

Takashi turned to face her and shrugged with a non-committed grin.

"Of course. She's my mum." He replied simply.

Miyuki smiled again, but her eyes were hooded. Takashi bumbled around in his head as he realised his mistake.

"Ah! Well, uh…"

"It's alright. I'm happy for you," the child of divorce replied with genuine honesty. Takashi relaxed his posture, and nodded thanks to her.

"Hey guys!" Hirano called out. The sharpshooter was busy pulling out a large roll of laminated paper from behind the whiteboard. Takagi stepped back with an annoyed expression as he hauled the paper over her head and dumped it on the square table.

"What is that, baka?!" She snipped, clearly annoyed.

"A map of Tokonosu." Hirano replied simply, but turned to flash her a winning smile as he elaborated:

"I don't know this area all that well, so I thought it would be a good idea to map out a course of action to get to STE."

"…You don't need to abbreviate it fatty." Saya said despairingly.

"Good man Hirano!" Takashi appraised, unwittingly echoing Saeko's words from the day after the outbreak.

The two men quickly mapped out the quickest route back to the school – it would be an hours smooth driving, considering they would pass back to Takashi's house on the way.

"It may not be a good idea to drive the Humvee right up to the walls of the school," Takagi pointed out.

"We would just be attracting Their attention, and making it that much harder for the police force."

"Good call," Takashi thanked her.

"In that case, we drive for 50 minutes, not including any… _detours… _and then park the Humvee relatively close by and walk for maybe another half hour." Rei happily exclaimed.

"We'll be there in less than 90 minutes!"

"Yes, well, we don't want to rely on luck. Not to mention it's going to take longer than 30 minutes to walk." Takashi replied.

"Wh- oh." Rei clenched a fist, and turned away with a not so subtle bitter expression.

With Saeko's bung ankle, the walking would take longer than normal.

* * *

Completely oblivious to Saeko and Alice out in the foyer, Shizuka moaned to herself as she looked for the combinations to the safes.

"Nnnnn, I can't find them _anywhere."_

The blonde flopped to the floor with a sigh, but continued to fiddle with the combination lock half-heartedly.

Meanwhile, Alice stood watching Saeko with confusion, the police report still clutched in her hand.

"Am I in that report, Alice-chan?" Saeko asked quietly, seeing no point in trying to hide it from the remarkably perceptive seven year old.

Alice nodded and ran up to her big sister. Alice didn't understand why Saeko was there – did she do something bad? Her nee-chan wasn't a bad person, she was sure of that. Saeko had always protected her since nii-chan and Kohta-chan had rescued her from the monsters. That was why she was so confused – Saeko couldn't have done something wrong.

Saeko reached out and gently took the file from Alice. She opened the front cover, and was met with a case title:

_Kenshin Yamagata, molestation and attempted assault. Past record of domestic abuse._

Saeko turned the page again with narrowed eyes, and sighed as she came across a picture.

The fourteen year old who looked back at her didn't remind Saeko of herself. Young Saeko looked happy – she didn't have the look of a killer in her eyes yet. She didn't even have the look of a sadist. A photo from before Yamagata attacked her then.

"Why are you in there, nee-chan?" Alice enquired again. Zeke skittered across the linoleum floor to snuffle around her legs, but for once, Alice paid him no heed.

Saeko smiled crookedly.

"A few years ago now, I was walking home from my kendo practice. As I was walking, a man called Kenshin Yamagata did a bad thing to me and he was put into jail because of it." She explained carefully.

"Did he hurt you?" Alice asked with wide eyes.

"He tried to." Saeko reached out to pat Alice on the head.

"But I didn't let him."

Alice smiled up at her, but her young face turned curious once more.

"Did he get put away like Papa used to mention?"

"Yes. He was sentenced to seven years in jail for what he did. He'd done things like it before." Saeko explained, not wanting to go into what details she knew of Japan's legal system.

"But what about when he gets out? That's not going to stop him hurting someone again, right?" Alice questioned.

Saeko was quiet for a time, thoughtfully looking at the little girl who was looking up at her concernedly. Alice was remarkably perceptive for her age, and she always managed to ask questions that were beyond her years. Perhaps Alice didn't fully understand what was going on (hell, none of the group knew the cause of the outbreak) but she had some basic concept of reality. She knew, for example, that her father was gone.

In reality, Alice had aged well beyond her years. Looking at her, Saeko felt that Alice's innocence was perhaps one of the most valuable things anyone in the group had. If only she had a chance of protecting it, she would. However, Saeko refused to misinform the child – ultimately, it would only prolong an inevitable conclusion.

Alice was not always going to be innocent, and there was nothing any of them could do about that.

Saeko pulled the girl into a hug, and spoke into her hair.

"That's true, Alice-chan. But he's not going to hurt anyone anymore."

"Because everyone's dead, right?"

Saeko shut her eyes at Alice words and squeezed her tighter. Perhaps it was already too late for Alice…

The warrior drew back, and looked Alice straight in the eye.

"Put the file back, Alice. And… please don't tell anyone in the group. Not even Hirano-kun."

Alice grinned, and patted Saeko's clasped hands reassuringly. "It's okay nee-chan. We all look out for each other now. I won't tell."

Saeko smiled again, and nodded thankfully as Alice ran back to return the file.

As the girl rounded the table, there was a loud exclamation from the back room.

"Oh!"

Saeko quickly climbed to her feet and stepped forward, ignoring the sharp pain in her foot.

"Marikawa-sensei?! Are you hurt?" She called out.

The nurse bumbled out into the foyer, clutching a camera in her hand. It was quite obvious that she was completely fine, and Saeko sternly warned her to stay quiet.

Shizuka nodded distractedly, and lifted the camera in front of her face.

"It's a Polaroid!" She declared, and promptly snapped a picture of Saeko's disbelieving expression. The picture printed in colour a few moments later, and Shizuka waved it above her head triumphantly.

"It was in the safe during the EMP thing, so it still works!" The nurse happily explained, turning to take a picture of Alice and Zeke, who were busy giggling and woofing quietly at her delight.

"Have you managed to open the other two safes?" Saeko asked interestedly. "There could be some useful technology in them which could help us if they weren't affected by the EMP strike."

"Oh, no…" Shizuka trailed off, and bit her thumb.

"Oh! But I found some codes which open the safe!" She clapped her hands together, nearly dropping the camera.

"What codes?" Alice asked, tugging on the nurses pants.

Shizuka bent down and embraced the seven year old, nearly suffocating her between her breasts.

"Coded codes! They were encrypted so that not anyone could just get in, but being the intelligent, beautiful, busty knockout that I am, I cracked it no sweat!"

Saeko's eyebrows were in danger of flying off her forehead at the nurse's description of herself.

_Busty knockout would be right…_

Takashi, Rei, Miyuki, Hirano and Saya chose that moment to come back down from the second level, quickly reassuring Saeko, Alice and Shizuka that the building was clear.

"Did you find anything of value?" Saeko quickly asked, her eyes already travelling over the new weapons they had seemed to procure.

"We found a stash of weapons in a storage locker up there, and a lot more ammunition for us to use. We'll still need to be careful not to waste any, but it'll last us a lot longer now." Takashi explained, his eyes wandering over to Shizuka who was still fiddling with her new camera.

"There's an evacuation from Shintoko Third Elementary the day after tomorrow!" Rei exclaimed. "My Dad is there!"

"Really?!" Shizuka exclaimed, throwing herself onto the ginger. "I'm so happy for you!"

Rei nodded enthusiastically. "It was his handwriting in that message, he's definitely there."

Saeko frowned and turned to look at the other four who had been with Rei. She could tell that all of them knew there was no guarantee that Rei's father was alive.

"We've already had two messages from my dad. Even now, with everything that's happened, he's still looking out for me…" Rei's eyes began to tear up again, but she vigorously rubbed them.

Takashi paused, and looked towards Miyuki out of the corner of his eye. However, the redhead had turned away, and he couldn't determine her reaction to Rei's words.

"Marikawa-sensei was able to open one of the safes. She says she can open the other two." Saeko broke the short silence.

The blonde nodded quickly, and disappeared quickly, only to return lugging the two safes under her arms. Pulling out a blue folder, she flicked through it quickly, and apparently found what she was looking for.

In a minute, she had unlocked the first safe. Shizuka pulled out several packets out white powder, one of which dropped to the floor. Zeke was instantly sniffing at it, but Alice pulled him away angrily.

"No boy! That's bad stuff!"

Zeke whined, but promptly licked Alice's face in apology, much to her delight.

"Well, I don't think that will be much use to us," Takagi said sarcastically, adjusting her glasses with one hand.

"Well, we _could-" _Hirano began.

"_No!" _Saya, Rei, Shizuka and Alice reprimanded him as one.

Shizuka quickly got to work on the second safe, which was the biggest of the three, and in another minute had it open. The rewards from this one were much more lucrative.

The nurse withdrew no less than six walkie-talkies, chunky, black devices with long and extendable antennae.

"Amazing!" Takagi exclaimed, reaching out to grab one.

"These are UHF radios! Ultra-high frequency! They could have a max range of something like 16 kilometres!"

"Do they work?" Takashi quickly exclaimed, grabbing one of his own.

"Uh… how does it turn on?" He awkwardly queried.

Saya groaned, and reached over to turn on the radio. She turned on hers as well, and tested the device:

"This is S-Genius, do you copy T-Leader?" She asked with a sassy swing of her hips (poor Hirano got an instant blood nose at the sight).

"T-leader?" Takashi asked confusedly.

Saya leant back as his voice crackled through the walkie-talkie painfully.

"You don't need to hold it so close to your face! And yes, you are T-leader. The initial of your first name and your position."

"…Right."

"Ooh ooh, I want to be S-Healer!" Shizuka excitedly cried. The rest of the team got on board.

"K-Shooter!"

"R-…um, Lancer?"

"A-Zeke!"

"Alice, you are not Zeke," Kohta sternly informed her.

"Yes, but this way Zeke gets to join in too!" She cried, hugging her beloved puppy to her chest.

"What about Busujima and Arakawa?" Saya said thoughtfully.

"I've never really been good at this sort of thing. Why don't one of you come up with something?" Miyuki quickly tried to get herself out of the situation.

"Nope! You have to come up with it." Saya was insistent.

Miyuki raised her hands in defeat. "Fine, fine."

"M-… M… M-?"

Takagi groaned and placed her hand on her hips.

"I told you I'm no good at this!" Miyuki protested.

"You lasted a pretty long time on your own." Takashi tried to save her.

"So what about M-Survivor?"

Miyuki turned to him with a strange look in her eyes. She studied Takashi for a long while, before she nodded slowly.

"Alright, I'll take that name up."

Takashi nodded, and turned to Saeko who was watching the exchange with a smile playing on her lips.

"Saeko-san, you should be S-Fighter. I can't think of a better name for you." He said with a grin.

Saeko smiled again, and agreed.

"So where are we going now?" Shizuka asked, surprisingly objective in the group's moment on companionship.

"We found a map upstairs and have figured out the best route to Shintoko Third Elementary – there's a decent chance that Rei's dad and my mum will be there." Takashi began.

"It would take us under two hours to get there from here."

"We'd be getting there after dark then," Miyuki pointed out, looking to the lengthening shadows in the foyer.

Takashi nodded. "Hirano mentioned that too. So, we're going to head in the opposite direction and make our way to Rei's house. There's a chance her mum might be there, and it will only take 30 minutes to walk there."

He thought back briefly to Rei's expression when they were planning their next move in the conference room…

"_Takashi, could we stay at my place tonight?" Rei asked quietly._

"_Are you sure? We could be at the police station tonight…"_

"_Yes but... I just want to see home. If I'm not going to see it for a long time, I want to stay there one last time to remember what it feels like to be normal again." She all but whispered._

_Takashi frowned, but nodded. He didn't feel like mentioning that nothing would ever go back to being normal again, or that it was _likely _that Rei would _never _live in her home again._

"_Okay."_

"We'll stay the night at Rei's house, and come back for the Humvee tomorrow morning. We'll park it a half hour walk from the police station and go the rest of the way on foot."

"Mmn, the costs of taking the Humvee do outweigh the benefits," Saeko said thoughtfully. Takashi turned to her with an apologetic look in his eyes.

"Sorry, Saeko-san. You're going to have to walk for a while longer."

"Hey, I just remembered something!" Alice exclaimed. The young girl ran into the seating area, and opened a cupboard that was tucked behind the wall. She pulled out a crutch, and nearly buried herself under it in her haste.

"You can use these, nee-chan!" She beamed.

Shizuka congratulated Alice, and helped Saeko adjust them to a height that would fit her. Saeko would be able to walk faster and less painfully now.

"Arigato, Alice-chan," Saeko thanked her.

"Is everyone ready?" Takashi asked, gearing up to exit the building.

"Let's go!"

* * *

_When you try your best but you don't succeed_

_When you get what you want but not what you need_

_When you feel so tired but you can't sleep_

_Stuck in reverse_

_And the tears come streaming down your face_

_When you lose something you can't replace_

_When you love someone but it goes to waste_

_Could it be worse?_

_Lights will guide you home_

_And ignite your bones_

_And I will try to fix you_

_And high up above or down below _

_When you're too in love to let it go _

_But if you never try you'll never know_

_Just what you're worth_

_Lights will guide you home _

_And ignite your bones _

_And I will try to fix you _

_Tears stream down your face _

_When you lose something you cannot replace _

_Tears stream down your face _

_And I _

_Tears stream down your face _

_I promise you I will learn from my mistakes _

_Tears stream down your face _

_And I _

_Lights will guide you home _

_And ignite your bones _

_And I will try to fix you_

* * *

"It looks like it's going to rain soon, Takashi-kun," Saeko softly called out.

Indeed, the sky was grey and even as Saeko spoke there was a rumble of thunder from up in the heavens.

"We're nearly there now," Takashi replied.

Shizuka quickly stuffed the Polaroid camera and film cartridges down the front of her shirt where it strained against the material.

Rain began to fall as the group made it to the Miyamoto household. Wanting to get out of the wet, Takashi decided the front door was the best option. He moved to open it, but Rei held him back, and instead fished under the doormat, eventually retrieving a key.

She inserted it into the lock, where it caught on the pins and unlocked the door. She pushed it open quickly, and stepped onto the hearth. Everyone followed her through quickly, and the door shut behind them.

Rei turned back to Takashi with a wide and grateful smile on her face.

"Home."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

I am not associated with the band Coldplay, nor do I own the rights to their song 'Fix You'.

Hi guys! I'm not dead!

I'm so, so very sorry for it taking such a long time to upload this chapter. My schooling has reached a really critical point, and I have been completely swamped by work recently. Coupled with a lot of family strife, I've been incredibly stressed lately and my progress with the story totally stopped for something like a month. I'm so glad I finally got this chapter out though – hopefully you lot have all stuck around this long!

So, considering my heavy workload doesn't look like it's going to disappear anytime soon, I'm not entirely sure when I'll be able to update in the future. It's definitely not going to be once a week like I originally thought (sigh), so let's say… 2 – 4 weeks. I know that's not exactly specific, but I'm not sure how I'll go myself, so I'm not going to make any promises I can't keep. :)

And just to clarify, I am definitely not giving up on this story – I've already got a lot planned out, so there's no way I'm leaving it hanging. Just… it may take me longer to get it out than I'd originally hoped. (And is there really no-one interested in Miyuki's backstory?… lol, that's going to be a huge hit when I finally get around to posting it) ;)

Actually concerning the story, I realise that much of this chapter was really similar to the manga. I wanted to use some of the ideas from the manga – namely the evacuation at the school – in this story. From here on in, there won't be any more paraphrases' of the canon (not that there's any more of it for me to work with anyway).

Enough of this depressingly cliché and long AN… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review and let me know that you haven't all given up on me, and how you think the story's going! :D While I'm here, thanks very much to The Queen of Water and MikeOfTheDead for reviewing the last chapter.

* * *

NEXT: ACT 5: Respite for the DEAD


	6. Act 5: Respite for the DEAD

_Since everything began, none of us have had a moment of respite._

_We've been running and fighting for much too long, and I don't think any of us have had a real chance to sit back and talk about everything that's happened. It's not easy to talk about, but it's better than slowly going insane._

_Just once, we need the opportunity to rest and recover. To feel safe one last time. To lie to ourselves for one night longer. _

_After this, there's a chance we won't need to run away anymore. It would be best to make peace with ourselves before that happens._

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: World of the DEAD**

**Act 5: Respite for the DEAD**

* * *

A blast of heat seared the back of Rika's neck as the SWAT officer hastily pulled out a handgun.

Skidding to a stop, Rika spun around and adopted a solid stance. She lined up the undead in her sights, and with one shot sent it crashing to the ground in a halo of blood. Behind the collapsed form of the monster the explosion swallowed itself, leaving a tangible absence of heat in its wake.

More zombies were slowly pinning them along the furthest edge of the floating airport, and one of Rika's men got down on one knee in an attempt to pick of the zombies with a sniper rifle. The gun was a long range one – not meant for encounters of such a close nature.

Rika's gloved hand shot out to pull the man to his feet as another _thing _approached from behind.

"Move!" She cried out to the men who were now scattered in a loose line along the tarmac. Heeding her order, the men ran for cover.

Following suit, Rika and the other SWAT officer dove behind an upturned loading cart. Pulling another grenade from her belt, the leader ripped the pin out with her teeth and tossed it over the cart.

The moans of the undead were cut off as fiery heat buffeted them from around the vehicle. Rika rose to find several corpses staggering towards her, their flesh on fire.

Swearing, her subordinate raised his scope to his eye, intending to take the closest one out.

"No, Marco!" Rika yelled. Forcing Marco back, Rika stepped away from the nearest corpse, and soon enough it collapsed onto the tarmac as its flesh was burned from its bones.

There were only two more zombies now, one of which Rika took out with an excellent shot from her handgun. The other was still several meters away, but even as she watched, one of the volunteers from the airport staff charged at it with the butt of his rifle raised.

"He must be out of ammo," Marco growled, his legs beginning to shake from the pounding they had received.

The man yelled and swung the makeshift club as hard as he could. He misjudged his aim, and connected with the monster's shoulder. It was forced back a step, but the man lost his grip on the weapon and it was flung out of his grasp out of sheer momentum.

He staggered back from the weight of it, but not before the monster was able to lunge forward and sink its teeth into his neck.

The man cried out in pain, and blood splattered over his cheek as the monster bit down deeper. A sudden _bang _and the zombie collapsed, courtesy of another well placed bullet from Rika.

The other men ran over to their fallen comrade, who was already coughing blood over the ground. Rika came to his side, her gun clutched tight. The man turned to look at her with clouded eyes, and grinned.

"If you'd so please ma'am… I don't wanna go out like one of Them." He coughed again, and Rika nodded with a hard gaze.

"I can't think of a better use for my last bullet," she said simply.

The next second, the man's movements were still.

Some of the men looked away, grinding their teeth in anger at the pointlessness his death. Rika noticed, but turned her head and returned her now-empty hand gun to her belt.

"Get this man back to the main building. He has a mother here doesn't he? She can say goodbye."

Her words were met with grateful smiles, and the men set about transporting him back to the building as respectfully as possible.

Rika sighed, and turned back to her subordinate.

"Marco, how the hell did they get past us? We have a screening process in place don't we?" Rika all but growled, her frame tense with barely concealed anger. One of the remaining two SWAT members moved over to their position, drawn to familiar colleagues and old friends.

"We don't know ma'am. There must have been a couple of Them in one of the beat up cargo transporters which got out and attacked people." Marco replied, uncertain.

"We've confirmed from witnesses that three of the monsters infected some civilians who were doing a sweep of the loading bay. Hideki was among them," filled in Parker, the only foreign-born member of the SWAT team and the youngest of them, his face falling towards the end.

Rika swore violently, and clenched a gloved fist.

"First Tajima, now Hideki too. Not even the best officers in the country can survive…"

Hideki was the fourth ranking member of the five officers whom had been deployed to the airport. He'd been a good man… always helping someone or other, whether it be an old lady crossing the road, or a group of civilians searching for zombies post-apocalypse.

Now that he and Tajima – Rika's second in command – were gone, only Rika, Marco and Parker remained, in that order of command.

The three of them began the kilometre journey back to the airport building – the battle had taken them almost to the western edge of the tarmac. The SWAT team and whichever citizens helped had made a fine effort in clearing the airport of undead. The main tarmac area outside the building within a kilometre radius had been all but secured, and was easily defendable.

It was the planes, loading bays, and the rest of the large airport that was the concern.

Rika had begun organising periodic sweeps of the airport, slowly clearing it of undead section by section. It was a slow, methodical process which had cost both ammunition and lives. But it was either that, or forever repel an undead force of unknown size and location.

"Ma'am…" Began Parker, but trailed off.

"God Parker, you'd think I'm your grade school principal or something. I don't need any of this _Ma'am_ stuff anymore, alright?" She grinned at him, and he nodded back.

"Hai, Ma'am!"

Rika raised her eyebrows and groaned, resting her head in her hands as Parkers ears went red.

"Parker! What were you saying?" Marco encouraged, thinking to save the poor guy from his embarrassment.

"Just that, what are you going to do about the executives? About them wanting you to pretend to be prime minister and all?" He enquired. Marco's ears pricked up as well, curious as to their superior's answer.

"I'm sure those crazy bastards are planning something. I don't want to be a part of it." Rika dismissed, regretting smoking her last cigarette this morning.

"But you know," Parker intoned, "you definitely act like a beacon of hope for these people. They'd have fallen apart without your help."

"Skip's right." Marco joined in, using the ironic nickname Parker had picked up in his time as the newbie.

"You could lead them, I reckon."

Rika sighed.

"I'm not a good public speaker," she joked, before her expression hardened.

"And I'm heading into the city soon anyway. Very soon."

"Oh right, to find that friend of yours." Marco remembered, and scratched his stubbly chin thoughtfully.

"But they only want you to pretend to be prime minister. Just so they think that things are going back to normal and the situation doesn't get out of control again." Parker added.

Rika shook her head. "I'm not feeding a bunch of lies to a bunch of desperate people. Deep down they know things will _never _go back to 'normal', whether they're ready to admit it or not."

"Then… why don't you tell them the truth?" Parker cautioned, looking to his leader as the shadow of the building fell over their faces.

"And what exactly is that?" Rika asked. "It's not like we know how this all started. We're as clueless as to what's going on as they are."

"No, but we do know how we're going to survive. _We_ know that we can't rely on some greater power to get us out of this mess. We know it's up to us." He said firmly.

Marco grinned and shook his head.

"Damn Skip, when did you get so wise?" He chuckled, smacking his colleague on the back.

Rika looked at the two of them thoughtfully as Marco teased Parker like a nine year old. She smiled suddenly, glad that she wasn't alone even if two of her friends were dead, and another one was somewhere in a zombie infested city with a group of teenagers.

"Alright Parker, you've convinced me. I'll talk to the people here – but I'm not about to become a puppet to those bastards from higher up." She declared with a stern face, her eyes flashing with determination.

With that, Rika turned and strode firmly to the closest official she could see, leaving Marco and Parker exchanging grins in her wake.

"This will be interesting," Marco smirked, and Parker could do nought but agree.

It didn't take long for a meeting to be set up. Soon, the near thousand people whom had accumulated at the airport since the outbreak of hell were gathered in the waiting bay. They sat in long rows, facing each other on the plastic chairs which were fixed to the ground and nervously chatting as they wondered why they had been called there.

Rika didn't leave them waiting for long. Two of the officials had found a large, sturdy crate and a podium from the check-in area for Rika to use. The useless microphone had been removed. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but Rika found it most amusing to watch the officials doing hands-on work, an occurrence that neither of them were happy about.

But if they wanted to maintain the façade, they had to do what the 'prime minister' wanted.

The muted conversation grew in pitch as Rika strode into the area with two other officials hanging off her ears, filling her head with last minute lines and recommendations. She hadn't changed from her SWAT gear – she was potentially wearing one of the three safest uniforms in the entirety of Japan after all. Rika had refused to change into a power suit sourced from an unlucky business woman's luggage. She wasn't about to bow to these bozos.

As Rika and the officials neared the podium, someone scrambled to find her a chair. It was placed neatly behind her, and Rika ignored it resolutely, crossing her arms and looking over the crowd with a stony expression.

A middle-class member of the Liberal Democratic Party, and thus the highest ranking official, Yori Orochi stepped up onto the crate with all the practiced ease of the politician that he was. No matter what had happened to the world, he would be a politician to the end of his days. Too bad no one at the airport trusted him anymore.

As he stepped up, the murmuring quietened. People rotated in their plastic chairs so they were angled towards him, and he smiled a small smile which was supposed to be comforting and encouraging.

To Rika, Orochi looked like he was grimacing at a slimy insect.

The man moved to grip the sides of the podium, and spoke:

"It gives me great happiness to be before you on this happy day. A day for rejoicing and congratulations."

The crowd stared blankly back at Orochi, but he seemed unperturbed by their lack of reaction.

"In recent times, an unprecedented tragedy has befallen Japan and in fact, the entire world." He paused again, as if for dramatic affect before continuing.

"Those of us who are gathered here today have survived this tragedy, a fact we should be _proud _of. Despite all the odds against us, only we have been strong willed and determined to live on."

Rika could see members of the audience, particularly older men and women tensing at his words. Some of them turned to sob against their partner's chests, Orochi's words unwittingly mocking what hope they had left for their missing friends and family.

"It is now that we must work to maintain order, and to re-establish stability. On this day, we form a new government to rebuild our country. As your humble public servant, I promise this service to you. Until such a time that we can reconnect with the former members of parliament, and reassert the prime minister to his position, I would present to you the temporary prime minister of Japan! Rika Minami-san!"

Orochi's voice projected over the crowd, whose now curious gazes turned to the SWAT officer. As Orochi stepped down, Rika casually made her way to the podium, stepping onto the crate with the practised ease of the soldier she was. From behind the podium, Rika couldn't even see the front line of people who were supposedly looking up at her.

She sighed.

"Well this won't do," she said conversationally, and hopped down from the crate. Orochi looked horrified, but could do little to stop her as Rika picked up the podium with relative ease and carelessly dumped it someway behind the crate.

The crowd tittered as Rika moved back and seated herself on the crate, now on the same level as the people. She hitched her left leg up so her boot was resting on the edge of the crate, and rested her elbow on that knee so that her hand was dangling in space.

The people were still looking at her as she looked at them, and finally she sighed and began.

"We lost good men and women this morning. I didn't know them all personally, but I know they were all fighting for something." Her no-nonsense tone made those who were still grieving look up with questioning looks, and Rika felt a sort of certainty settle in her chest.

"As far as I'm concerned, this has been a pretty shitty day," Rika made sure not to allow any inflections in her tone, but she encouraged a few snorts from the audience. They recognised the subtle jab at Orochi's speech, and apparently, he did too.

"But you know something… I couldn't be prouder."

Silence. She had their attention now.

"I lost one of my close friends this morning. He was helping your friends and family ensure safety for everyone.

"He was the kind of guy who would be annoyed with me if I worried about it too much though, so I won't. I lost another friend two days ago when he blew himself, and a few hundred of those bastards up after he lost his leg. Before I got away, I told him the truth. He was the best partner anyone could have ever had."

The area was silent. Rika rubbed her eyes wearily.

"Most people don't get any last words, but he did."

"'I really wanted to feel her boobs'" She repeated, making quotation marks in the air. The crowd laughed, and someone called out: "A man after my own heart!"

The crowd laughed once more, and a smile tugged up the corners of Rika's lips.

"We all know things aren't easy anymore, and it's not something we can avoid. The world has pretty much fallen apart. It's not going to return to the way it was in this lifetime."

She was met with a sea of resigned faces.

"But nothing we have ever worked for was about us. Not really. Your children may live to see a safe world. Their children might. We're starting again, whether we like it or not. Because we're all fighting for something."

People began nodding, and Rika let her leg fall to the floor so she was leaning over her legs with her hands clasped in front of her.

"Perhaps we need a leader to survive, someone to give us a common goal. I don't know if I'm the person for the job… most of _my _thoughts are about my last cigarette which I had this morning."

More smatterings of laughter. The people looked friendlier, more resolute.

"We're all fighting for who we love. Just before the EMP strike, I was lucky enough to get in contact with my best friend. Right before she could tell me where in the city she was, the phone was fried. Obviously, I haven't heard from her since."

From the looks on people's faces, they were in similar, if not identical situations.

"At this moment, I don't know where she is. I don't know what she has with her. I don't know if she's alive. But I'll be damned if I'm not going to go into that city and find her!"

People cheered, and rose to their feet, clapping and whistling. Rika was the only one sitting now, but quickly stood. Her surprised gaze moved to the right, where she saw Marco and Parker grinning wildly and wolf-whistling at her. She winked as she had a mischievous thought, and turned back to the crowd, who were dying down and returning to their seated positions.

"I would leave right now, but not without doing my bit to secure this place. So, I leave in three days. If there is anyone who wants to come with me, I'm keeping three spaces open. You need to be prepared, and able to fight. There won't be any respite for us. The rest of you are free to make your own decisions, but if you decide to remain at this airport, every one of us has to be ready to make an effort.

"In which case…" here, Rika turned again to Marco and Parker, who suddenly looked very apprehensive.

"My colleagues will be happy to give some basic weapons training to any who want to learn. We only have so many weapons to go around, but we need as many people who can defend themselves as possible."

In her peripheral vision, she saw Marco shoot a deadly glare in her direction, although Parker looked happy enough to help. Rika grinned.

"Well, ah, I don't really have much more to say. These guys are pretty decent organisers. They'll get some kind of system going." Rika said, pointing her thumb over her should at Orochi and the other officials. They gave a collective sigh, glad beyond telling that they hadn't been made totally obsolete.

Bringing her feet closely together, Rika addressed the audience with a military salute, a gesture which had significant meaning for her and her colleagues. She saw them returning their salute, and nodded to them.

"Good luck to you all." She said firmly. The meeting was dismissed.

For a few minutes after, as everyone began dispersing to whichever part of the airport they had become most familiar with, Rika was constantly approached by people who wanted to shake her hand or share their thanks with her.

She dismissed all their praise.

Finally, most everyone had gone, and Rika was left with Marco and Parker.

"You were excellent," Parker grinned. "Most inspirational thing I've heard all week."

Rika smirked, and ruffled his hair furiously.

"Shut it, Skip. You know I completely winged that."

"Yeah, but you did a bloody good job," Marco pointed out.

Rika groaned. "Don't start treating me like some saviour. I made it quite clear that everyone has to make an effort to get along."

"Yeah, yeah, we need to rebuild our burnt bridges and all that." Marco waved his hand in the air as Parker fought Rika away.

"How roguishly poetic of you," Rika grinned.

"Minami!"

Rika turned slowly, and was met with a flustered looking Orochi with the other officials in tow.

"You were supposed to address forming a democracy! And about reforming government! People can't live on their own, they need to be controlled!"

"God complex much…" Parker muttered, too quietly for Orochi to hear, but Marco and Rika had to forcibly supress their amusement.

Rika fixed the politician with a piercing stare. "What we need isn't leaders, Orochi-san."

"Our survival is a result of our collective effort. You'd do best not to forget that."

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: Human or DEAD**

* * *

It had grown into a humid night – rain was consistently pattering outside, drumming quietly on the corrugated roof and the air was pleasantly warm. The sound of the rain was soothing, leaving no clues as to the fact that the world had all but ended.

Miyuki has always loved the sound of the rain. It was more relaxing than any music. When she had lived with her dad, she used to run outside and lie of the sloped cement in the back yard, just letting herself get completely soaked in it. She would often catch colds from doing so, but it was worth it.

Lying out in the rain had let her feel like nothing was important. She could lie there for hours, simply doing nothing but allowing herself to really and truly rest. It was tempting to do so now, but she couldn't risk getting sick. None of them had that luxury anymore.

Miyuki looked up at the roof over her head, and then back over the courtyard. Rei's house had been completely untouched. There were no signs of a struggle, a hasty escape or any unusual signs at all. It had seemed to encourage Rei, who was certain that her mother must be at the police station too, but Miyuki's newly developed cynicism led her to believe a different scenario.

Finally, the large tub was nearly full to brimming. It was a sturdy, metal thing, which had used to be home to Rei's mother's herb garden. It was surprisingly light, but much less so when filled with so many litres of water.

Miyuki and Rei were busy filling three of these tubs from the giant water tanks that the Miyamoto family had out the back. Gardening had been a hobby of Rei's mum's, strange when compared to her love for soujutsu. Rei had been telling Miyuki how her mum had gotten her interested in the discipline, and how they had often practised together.

In the few hours they had been here, all eight of them had been swapping small stories about life before the outbreak. Little things like what hobbies they had, what their favourite foods were. Normal conversation topics that made them feel a little more like their age.

"This is the last one, Miyuki-san," Rei said, drawing the red head's attention back to the task at hand.

"Right."

With a bit of complaining, they shifted the tub onto a medium-sized furniture mover they had found in the shed. Tilting it back onto its wheels, the girls carefully pushed it back to the house, glad that the courtyard was enclosed.

Without wasting any more time, they moved the remaining tubs back to the house and through the corridor until they reached the lounge. By the time the third one was inside, Hirano and Takashi had already set the first one on the fireplace.

"I can't wait for a hot bath!" Rei groaned as she sunk back into the leather couch.

"You guys should all be making yourself at home!" She admonished, as she looked around. Miyuki was shifting in her boots, and Takashi was still crouched, gazing at the fire. The lounge had a strangely homey feel to it – it contrasted jarringly with the experiences they had had over the last week.

Thanking Rei, Miyuki turned to head to the back door, and leant against the frame as she laboriously removed her left boot. She turned it upside down, and let water splash out onto the ground.

"Bloody weather, ruining a good pair of shoes," she grumbled as she emptied the other one of water as well.

After she had finished her task, Miyuki padded back into the warm interior and rested her long boots against the wall of the study. It was perhaps the only room that gave away the true nature of the world.

Guns were stacked neatly against the walls, hard, black weapons that seemed alien in the cosy environment. Bags of equipment and tools they had picked up from the mall rested in neat stacks, and other pocket gear had been grouped and laid out categorically for each person. In Miyuki's pile sat her belts, axe, handgun, and pocketknife as well as one of the walkie talkies. Her short blades were laid flat on a different table, lying next to Saeko's katana.

It had been a mutual consensus for the group. One night without weapons, one night without fear.

Sunset had just darkened into night, which meant it was roughly 6pm. Life had seemed so unliveable without technology, but Miyuki was often surprised by the number of ways they were able to undertake tasks using only basic materials and knowledge. Telling the time was just one of them.

As Miyuki stepped out of the study, Hirano walked past with a nearly unconscious Alice clutched in his arms. She was wearing a pair of flannel pyjamas and socks on her feet. Hirano raised a finger to his lips, signalling for Miyuki to be quiet.

The red head grinned at the sight of the sleepy girl.

"She ate the last piece of good fruit and some dry cereal, but she's about to drop," Hirano whispered.

"Sleep well, Alice-chan," Miyuki murmured to the girl, who didn't show any sign of recognising her at all. Hirano walked past, headed towards Rei's room to put Alice to bed.

When Miyuki turned back, Saya was standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a tender expression, looking after Kohta and Alice.

"Sometimes, you don't realise how much you miss something until it's gone… or until you realise you haven't had it yet." Takagi said with a small smile.

Miyuki nodded. She could understand where Takagi was coming from – she seemed to appreciate smaller things more often than not these days. She turned back to the genius.

"He likes you. I can tell after just one day." Miyuki said with a sly smile.

Saya's eyes widened and she shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She spun around, and headed into the bathroom which was just off the lounge area.

"Come on, the water's ready."

"What?" Miyuki asked, but Saya had already gone. Following curiously, she entered the bathroom to see the remaining girls – excluding Saeko – stripping off their clothes in preparation to bathe.

"Can you find Busujima? I thought she was already down here. And don't you let that bloody idiot have even a single look in here!" Saya's voice rose into a yell, and Miyuki hurriedly shut the door. She hadn't realised the girls were going to bathe together, although she guess it made sense. They only had so much hot water to go around after all.

She could just imagine Hirano tipping the water into the bath, knowing full well what Saya would be doing in there… Miyuki shook her head with a grin. Hirano was clearly head over heels for the girl, and Miyuki was quite sure Saya felt something back.

_I wonder when they'll finally give in, _she thought with a grin.

She headed to the kitchen, where she found Saeko resting her hands heavily on the counter to support herself. She was giving instructions to Takashi about making soup, but the poor guy looked like the information was flying straight over his head.

"Uh, Saeko," she interrupted, and grinned when Takashi beamed at his rescuer.

"The girls want you to come to wash up." Miyuki explained, and instantly noticed a raging blush take over Takashi's face.

Saeko nodded her thanks, and turned back to Takashi to finish her instructions. Her eyes danced with amusement as Takashi blustered about and assured her there would be food on the table.

Miyuki helped Saeko to the bathroom and set the crutches against the wall. Wordlessly, she opened the door and stepped through, only to be ambushed by a naked Rei.

"What took you so long?!" She cried, as she forcefully tugged the two through the door. Shizuka (literally) bounced over, nearly taking out a disgruntled Saya on the way, and helped Rei remove Miyuki and Saeko's clothing with remarkable speed and dexterity.

Leading them over to the bath, which had been filled with the hot water from one of the tubs, Rei and Shizuka hopped in with giggles, squeezing up to Saya who had already seated herself in the water. Miyuki gingerly stepped into the hot water, and turned back to keep Saeko balanced as the warrior got her bad ankle into the soothing bath. The comfort it gave her washed over Saeko's face, and then all five of them were settled.

"Ehh, Miyamoto-san, you have such a big bath!" Shizuka moaned as she sunk back into the water. This proved difficult, as the bath was not as big as the nurse thought, and the rest of the girls were pushed around as Shizuka forced her legs underneath their own.

Takagi grinned evilly, and snuck her hand out to rest on Shizuka's head. She suddenly pushed down, sending the nurse sprawling under the water, creating waves which rushed up to splash Miyuki's face and soak her hair.

She spluttered with the surprise of it, and pushed her sodden hair out of her eyes. But before she could do anything to counter the attack, Rei had lunged at Shizuka, laughing as she chased her around the bath. The teen slid over the rest of her friends, and Saya awkwardly blushed as Rei's leg was caught between her own, her chest right up in Saya's face as she tried to grab Shizuka by her ridiculously proportioned breast.

Somehow, she succeeded, and Shizuka cried out as she fell out of the bath and onto the ground. She pouted for a few seconds, before Rei clambered out and began flicking her with a wet towel.

Outside the door, Hirano paused as he came back down the hallway, and grinned as he heard the noise from the bathroom and realised what it must mean. Sneakily, he crept towards the door, intending to crack it open and get a glimpse of his favourite genius…

Takashi chose that moment to cry out in frustration from the kitchen. Hirano jumped back from the door, and whistled casually as he strolled into the cooking room, where he was met with a foul smell.

"What the hell did you do, Komuro?!" Kohta gagged, and noted with alarm that there was smoke in the room.

Takashi was standing by the stove, frantically waving his hands through the air in an attempt to move the smoke away.

"I told her I can't cook! I told her!" He said desperately. As Hirano realised there wasn't any danger, he crept towards the stove, and looked into the large cooking pot. He wrinkled his nose.

The base of the pot was coated with a congealed mess of multi-coloured broth which had mostly burnt itself to the cast-iron. Roughly chopped sliced meat floated on the surface, and pale cabbage leaves floated just beneath the surface.

"I didn't even know you could burn soup," Takashi moaned as he hefted the pot up and scraped the mess into the bin.

"How did you manage it?" Hirano asked, pulling off his glasses to polish.

"I fell asleep leaning against the counter." Takashi admitted as he flung open the pantry door in search of a replacement meal.

Hirano couldn't help it. He burst into a fit of laughter which hurt his sides and shook his belly. Takashi remained facing the other way, but soon he too was shaking his head and laughing along with his friend.

Takashi wiped away his tears as he let out a few more chuckles. He straightened up and sighed.

"Did you put Alice to bed?"

Hirano nodded.

"Hai."

"And what's it looking like out there? Do you think we can make it to the police station alright?" Takashi suddenly looked tired. Hirano couldn't help but be impressed with Komuro. Not only did he have to deal with his own demons, but he was their leader. He was the one who always made the final decision. The group would have had a much harder time without him guarding the front.

"Clear of anything. The rain makes it more difficult to tell, but there's no danger within several hundred meters." Hirano said surely.

Takashi nodded. "And this time there's no Zeke to draw Their attention," he joked, glancing out the door to where the small dog was curled up in a ball, fast asleep.

Hirano smiled, and Takashi pulled out a large plastic packet from the cupboard.

"Looks like we're having packet ramen," Takashi said as dumped the dry noodle packets on the counter.

Hirano grinned, and began ripping open the packets with his friend.

Back in the bathroom, Shizuka squealed as Rei flicked her on the behind again. The blonde fell forwards onto her face, moaning.

"Stop it, Miya… moto…!" She panted.

Saeko, still sitting in the bath with an amused Miyuki and a disdainful Saya, called out to the girls, who were all but wrestling on the floor.

"The water is getting cold."

Shizuka looked happy at the intervention, and was soon squeezing in next to Takagi again. Rei was able to get them all talking, somehow finding topics that didn't always relate to the outbreak. If the conversation _did _somehow turn zombie, Rei always seemed to have some kind of segue into a new point of interest.

It was impressive, if not altogether subtle.

After they had all washed their bodies and hair, the girls dried off and donned the sleepwear they had picked up from the mall. At a suggestion from Rei, they braided each other's hair, and a session of compliments and self-degradation unlike any other Miyuki had been a part of ensued.

The red head knelt behind Saeko, brushing her indigo hair as she listened to Rei complaining about the size of her breasts. Miyuki began to weave Saeko's hair into two long braids, and the warrior turned round to look at Rei, Saya and Shizuka, who were doing each other's hair in a line.

"I can assure you Miyamoto-san, from my experience; your breasts are very large." Saeko guaranteed her with a grin.

"What do you mean "from experience"?" Saya asked with a sly grin, and Shizuka slapped her shoulder in a playful rebuke.

"Only that Miyamoto-san is one of the most endowed people I have come into contact with, perhaps second only to Marikawa-sensei."

Shizuka mock-blushed, which only got Rei complaining again.

"I want big ones like her too!" Rei groaned again as she moved around to braid Shizuka's hair after Takagi had finished with her.

Miyuki moved in front of Saeko so the same could happen, and knelt between Saeko's spread knees.

"Is your ankle troubling you?" Miyuki asked, conscious of Saeko's position.

She shook her head. "It's fine, Miyuki-san, but I appreciate your concern. I'll just need to keep it propped up on a pillow when I rest."

"I hope Komuro-kun was successful in preparing some food for us," Saeko thought aloud, glancing at the door to the bathroom.

Right in Saeko's line of sight – had there not been a wall in the way – was Takashi and Hirano. The packet noodles were sitting in a bowl as they heated more water to cook the noodles in. Hirano seemed thoughtful.

"Something troubling you Hirano?" Takashi eventually asked, slightly apprehensive of the answer.

"Actually, yes."

_Here we go, _thought Takashi.

"Have you been paying attention to the group?" Hirano asked him suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you noticed the number of _females _in the group? Haven't you noticed how _big _they all are?" Hirano demanded of him, his eyes wide with excitement.

"Well yeah, it's kind of hard not to have noticed," Takashi replied, running a hand through his hair at the awkward bodily encounters he had seemed to be having with half the girls since everything began.

"Doesn't it _concern _you?" Hirano asked again.

"Should it?" Takashi queried. "I admit, I thought it was pretty cool at first," he said with a chuckle.

"But it didn't take very long to put what's actually important into perspective. Not that I don't enjoy seeing them!" He defended himself at Kohta's sceptical look.

"We need to protect and preserve our masculinity Komuro!" He declared, and Takashi balked.

_I don't think I want to know what that means… _

"By wrestling!"

… _Too late._

"Is that really practical?" Takashi asked, desperate to find an excuse.

"Of course! It will train our muscles and help us cope with the ever-growing female presence of the group!"

"Now, fight me!"

Takashi waved his hands in an attempt to bring his friend to his senses.

"I really don't-"

He was cut off as Hirano threw himself at him. Takashi raised his hands to ward off the attack, and Hirano's fists closed around his own. He squeezed and pushed, trying to force Takashi off balance. Hirano threw his head forward and head butted Takashi as their hands were raised over their heads by the force of their pushing.

Takashi grunted, but pushed back.

It was a strange battle. Both their arms began to shake, but both boys refused to give up. They grew hot next to the fire, and soon they had stripped off their shirts, and Hirano had tied his old bandana around his head to keep his sweaty hair out of his eyes.

They collided again, grinding their teeth and trying to overpower and intimidate their opponent.

It was like that that the girls found them.

The door to the bathroom opened, completely unnoticed by either of them, and they filed out into the lounge area, not three meters from where Takashi and Hirano were going at it.

Takashi noticed them first, and scrabbled for his discarded shirt as he fought to keep himself from blushing.

First out of the door were Miyuki and Saeko. The red head was wearing a white dressing gown which exposed most of her legs and her forearms, and was tightly tied at her waist. Saeko was wearing a pair of light grey sleeping shorts and a black tank top. It looked remarkably normal on Saeko, whose clothing always seemed slightly regal when compared to the others.

Behind them was Saya, wearing a tight singlet which made Hirano's eyes (and Saya's chest) pop, and a grey pair of track pants. Shizuka had remembered to put clothes on this time, and was wearing a baggy T-shirt that was long enough to conceivably be an incredibly short dress. Takashi doubted she was wearing any underwear underneath it.

Rei marched out from behind Shizuka in her tank top and gym shorts and whacked Takashi over the head.

"Where's the food?" She cried.

After he had escaped and the guys had washed up, Takashi sidled up to Hirano was an abashed grin.

"I just can't catch a break can I?"

Hirano laughed and smacked them on the back as he opened the door to the kitchen and they stepped in to eat.

* * *

**ACT 5: Respite for the DEAD**

* * *

_Motorcycle's in the parking lot _

_Revving their engines and it just won't stop _

_Matches the noise screaming in my head _

_Houston, I think we got a problem _

_Where does everybody go when they go? _

_They go so fast, I don't think they know _

_We hate so fast and we love too slow _

_London, I think we got a problem _

_And when I think about it _

_I just can't think about it _

_I try to drink about it _

_I keep spinning _

_Ave Mary A, where did you go? Where did you go? _

_How did you know to get out of a world gone mad? _

_Help me, let go of the chaos around me _

_The devil that hounds me, I need you to tell me _

_Child, be still, child, be still _

_If the darkest hour comes before the light _

_Where is the light? Where is the light? _

_If the darkest hour comes before the light _

_Where is the light? Where is the light? Where is the light? Yeah _

_Ave Mary A, where did you go? Where did you go? _

_How did you know to get out of a world gone mad? _

_Help me, help me, let go of the chaos around me _

_The devil that hounds me, I need you to tell me _

_Child, be still, child, be still, child, be still_

* * *

Takashi set a bowl of steaming ramen down in front of her, and Miyuki thanked him with a smile.

The seven of them were seated around the dining table, and now were all hungrily digging into their food. Miyuki couldn't help but study each one of them as they ate and talked.

Everyone was friendly with each other, she could see that. It was blatantly obvious to her that Hirano and Takagi liked each other, although it was equally clear that Saya didn't want to admit it. Whether out of embarrassment or denial, she couldn't tell.

She raised a spoonful on noodles to her lips and gratefully sucked them into her mouth.

They were good, no matter how doubtful Takashi was of his cooking ability. And the fact that it was packet ramen.

She watched Takashi and Saeko as they quietly talked. Well, they didn't really talk. They had this strange way of communicating, almost without words. It was like they could look at each other and convey a message.

Miyuki swallowed another mouthful, and blinked as Rei turned away from Shizuka to talk to Takashi.

He didn't notice her.

Rei opened her mouth to scold him, but stopped when she realised that Takashi was completely focused on Saeko. She bit her lip and turned back to her noodles.

Miyuki frowned to herself.

Perhaps things weren't working as well as she had thought.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

I am not associated with the artist P!NK, nor do I own the rights to her song 'Ave Mary A'

On that note, listen to this song. It's great. Does anyone listen to any of the songs I include? You should! I'm slowly creating a playlist of them as I go – maybe I'll post a link to it on my profile in the future.

So, basically no plot in the last half of this chapter. Oh well, they were supposed to be having a break after their long and successful day after all. And I just needed to have a jab at HOTD, what with all the ridiculously busty teens, the large ratio of girls to guys, and largely blowing up Hirano's character to silly proportions. I had fun writing it anyway.

Huge, huge thanks to the wonderful **The Queen of Water, Gravenimage, SatoshiKyu, MikeOfTheDead,** and **X** for reviewing. I'm going through and replying to all of you as soon as I post this chapter. Keep them coming guys! And a shout out to all the people who have either followed, favourited or reviewed this story in the past. You're all keeping me motivated :)

* * *

** NEXT: Act 6: Elementary School of the DEAD**


	7. Act 6: Elementary School of the DEAD

_Once upon a time, before everything began, it would have been a treat to get a week away from parents. Away from chores, constant nagging and endless embarrassment. To get away from the support… the love… the closeness._

_I can't believe how unbelievably stupid I've been. I moped my way through high school, hating practically everything, and lost sight of what is most important. I didn't even realise family_ was _important. _

_It's a lot harder to take things for granted these days. _

_Part of me dreads finding my family. Another part of me looks forward to it more than anything else. I have no guarantee that they're alive, if they're unhurt, or even if they're still sane. I'm not sure what I'll do if I do find them. _

_I just need closure from all this madness._

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: Human or DEAD**

**Act 6: Elementary School of the DEAD**

* * *

No one had spoken for the last hour, save when Takashi would give a quick command if they turned into the path of the dead.

Takashi felt… clean. Like he had finally been able to wash away the grime and suppressed fear that had dictated his life for over a week. Only a week… yet sometimes he felt as if this was all his life had ever been.

Their one night of respite had done the group a world of good. Not only had they all been able to wash with warm water for the first time in days – and indeed the first time since the outbreak for Alice – they had all felt just a little more normal than they had since it all began.

Even when they had stayed at Shizuka's friend's house (they had since learned her name was Rika), not everyone had slept, and there had been a quick rescue mission which had not been exactly restful for Takashi. Last night everyone had slept. A fact that annoyed him. He had been planning to keep a watch out, but after feeling so warm and having a full stomach, he had fallen asleep with his friends in the lounge, all sprawled in whichever position they found most comfortable. Even Alice had come down sometime during the night to curl up next to Shizuka, with Zeke a little hot ball of fur at her side.

And for some reason, this walk through the city did not feel as hard as the others had. Takashi was alert. His senses felt heightened from his good rest, and he moved more fluidly than he had before. After his experiences, he had learned how to move without making noise, and had grown miles more aware of his surroundings then he had even been.

Saeko's was watching his back as he checked the next street, unknown to him. Her tender smile hid the turbulent desires beneath.

As he spotted the Humvee, Takashi stopped. After a brief check, he confirmed the area was clear and cautioned everyone forward. The vehicle sat in the asphalt parking area outside of the park itself. The green grass sparkled with last night's rain as the weak morning light glinted off it.

The group moved forward quickly and slid into the Humvee in the same arrangement from earlier. As Hirano shut the passenger door behind him, and Takashi confirmed that he and Rei were seated on the roof, Shizuka calmly keyed the engine into life and took off. The nurse knew the area they were heading into better than the area they were leaving, and was aware of her destination.

It took maybe 10 minutes to pass Takashi's house, and from there, another 40 until they were to stop.

_Plenty of time to get some answers, _Rei thought to herself.

"Takashi," she said, getting the leader's attention. Rei felt her heartbeat speed up as his chocolate eyes fixed on her amber ones. How had she been so stupid to give him up?

"Nani?" He asked her. He knew what she was going to say, Rei could feel it. She'd never realised how perceptive he could be. Maybe it was she who was the unperceptive one.

"Have you thought about what I said? At Saya's house?" Rei asked, forcing herself to maintain eye contact.

Takashi blinked and looked away.

"Rei…"

"What?" She urged him. "What is it?"

"Things are hectic right now. I haven't been thinking about that much." He admitted, still not meeting her eyes.

"Why not? You've had three days since then. I thought you'd be happy…" She couldn't help but feel hurt. She'd completely thrown herself at him three days ago, and had finally thought that there would be a happy ending. Even Saeko's mysterious appearance hadn't dampened her hopes, despite the fact Rei was very suspicious that something had happened between Saeko and Takashi whilst they were alone.

Once they were finally safe with her parents, they could be together without any drama or interruption. After so many years, Takashi and Rei would finally be happy.

"It's not like that," Takashi assured her.

"I am happy. I was happy. There's just been so much to deal with that my mind's been overloaded. I've been trying to keep everyone safe, Rei." His tone turned almost pleading as Rei's expression didn't change.

_Does that mean you aren't happy anymore, Takashi? Or are you just confused? _Rei thought bitterly. _You're supposed to say 'was' _then_'are'. _

"Takashi…" She laid a hand on his leg, gripping his knee gently.

"What I said back then… I was being serious. I don't think I could go on without you. If you were to move on to someone else…" Rei stopped and drew in a breath.

"I said that I would still need you if you fell in love with another girl. And I meant that!" She said quickly, trying not to raise her voice lest the others hear them.

Takashi looked puzzled. "What do you mean? Where is this suddenly coming from?" He asked warily, suspicious of her answer.

"I need you. Now. Forget about everyone else, this is about us." She said huskily, shuffling over so she was pressed against his side.

A blush rose to Takashi's cheeks that made Rei smirk victoriously.

"You can't hide what you want from me," she laughed, and leant up and kissed him.

Takashi's eyes widened with shock, but Rei had shut her own eyes and didn't see him. This is what she had tried to start that day back in the mansion, but it had hurt to move back then. Now, she could do as she pleased.

Rei released him and leaned back with a smile. Takashi blinked and shook his head as if her were awakening from a daze.

"Do you have any idea how long I've wanted you to do that?" He muttered, probably not intending for her to hear.

Rei giggled, and pressed into him again.

"I know _exactly _how long – it's as long as I've wanted to do it."

Takashi's head whipped up and his arm was around her waist in a flash, pulling Rei to his chest. She gasped with surprise, but snuggled into him contentedly. He pulled her back, intending to kiss her. He leant in, and bent down, as Rei's amber eyes stared into his own.

The amber turned blue. Takashi blinked. A different girl was looking into his eyes – not the one that was in his embrace.

Takashi gently pushed Rei back and scooted further away from her on the Humvee's roof. He felt a sudden wave of paranoia overtake him, and he quickly checked the roof to make sure no one was up there with them. Funny… he had felt certain that a boy their own age with grey hair and green eyes had been there just moments ago…

"What's wrong?" Rei asked, hurt.

"Sorry," Takashi said distractedly.

"Just… can we wait till we're not on the roof of a moving vehicle?" he asked with a weak smile.

Rei didn't seem to notice his wariness. She giggled lightly, and relaxed.

"Okay."

The rest of the trip passed in silence.

Takashi felt strangely numb. And surprisingly guilty. Guilt hadn't stopped him from kissing Rei three days ago, less than 24 hours after he had done the same to Saeko at the shrine. Guilt hadn't stopped him from wanting Rei in the days post-outbreak. But it was stopping him now.

A minute ago, he had wanted Rei when she was in his arms. Then he had wanted someone else. Someone with blue eyes. He just wasn't sure who it was.

Takashi's stomach felt like it was tightening, and nausea rolled through his gut. What if someone else from the group had seen them? He wouldn't be able to look any of them in the eye.

This was the third time he and Rei had kissed. Once at Rika's house, once at the Takagi mansion, and now once more on the way to his mother's elementary school. But he'd also kissed Saeko at the shrine, and imagined he'd… that he'd…

Takashi immediately started thinking about zombies, and felt the straining between his legs settle down. He sighed to himself, wondering how everything could be such a mess.

_I've loved Rei longer, so why do I feel like I'm cheating on Saeko?_

_Or is it-?!_

There was a sudden cry from inside, and the Humvee swerved, nearly knocking Takashi off. The vehicle jolted painfully, and Takashi was actually bounced into the air, clear of the vehicle. He landed hard on his back with a gasp, but grit his teeth and forced himself back up.

"What's going on?!" Rei yelled. Takashi quickly turned back and saw a body on the ground, fast receding into the distance. The monster's grey flesh was covered in black blood and its body had a great trench in it from where it had been run over by the Humvee.

Shizuka spun the wheel left, and Takashi only just grabbed a hold of Rei to stop her slipping off. They turned into a side street, speeding down the road as Takashi got his bearings. He leant down into the Humvee, idly noting that Saya had been thrown onto the ground on top of Miyuki, and that Shizuka's face was flushed with surprise.

"What happened?" He asked swiftly.

"One of _Them _was lying right there on the road. It was the same colour as the asphalt… I didn't see it until we were right on top of it!" Shizuka was panting as if she had run a marathon, but gulped as she tried to calm down.

"There were more ahead of us, so I took a detour." The nurse explained as her breathing returned to normal.

"I can see more," Saeko declared from the backseat. From his position on the roof, Takashi looked back the way they had come. He made an angry noise as he saw a small group of Them shamble across to follow them down the street. Rei called out to him, and he turned back to the front. There were more of Them ahead. He quickly counted four of Them – easy enough to run down, but he didn't want a repeat of the wire blockade incident.

Well, it wouldn't be _so _bad…

Takashi shook his head violently to rid himself of his perverse thoughts. He groaned aloud. Now was definitely not the time.

"Rei, get down and wait!" he cried out. Rei threw herself down, and pressed herself into the roof. Takashi quickly swung himself down into the Humvee, barely avoiding the girls in the back.

"Shizuka-sensei!" He cried out.

"Hai?"

"Give it everything you've got! I'm talking foot-to-the-floor. Let's see what this thing can do!" he grinned.

"Hirano, I want you on lookout in case we get blocked up. Rei can switch spots with you."

Kohta nodded firmly, and clambered over the center divider into the back, where it was now much too crowded. Hirano used the backseat to propel for a boost, and hoisted himself onto the roof. Takashi carefully lifted his AR-10 up to him.

Soon enough, Rei swung into the vehicle and slid into the front seat. Finally, the girls could breathe again. Takashi stood with his head and shoulders out of hatch to keep an eye out with Hirano.

From his vantage point, he could see that the number of monsters had increased to six.

"Let's go sensei!" He yelled out suddenly.

"We're off!" came the reply from inside the car. The vehicle jumped forward, and Takashi's hair was violently blown off his face.

"Brace yourself Hirano," he warned as the zombies raced up to meet them.

"Oh, I'm _all _over this Komuro," Hirano assured him with a grin. His scope was to his eye, although he wasn't to shoot unless completely necessary. Takashi braced himself against the frame, his eyes watering.

The buildings zoomed by in a blur, and suddenly the zombies were in front of, underneath, and behind them. The force of the impact jolted the vehicle up, and he heard a thump inside. Bodies shredded on the windscreen, and blood splattered over his cheek. Takashi wiped it away with disgust, before the vehicle began to drift towards the right at an alarming rate.

"I can't see!" Shizuka cried out.

He leant up and grimaced with disgust. A mangled torso was lying across the windscreen. With a heave of his arms, Takashi hauled himself fully onto the roof, and crawled forward. With his chest leaning over the front edge, and Hirano gripping his ankles firmly, Takashi tried to force his hands under the torso.

His hands were slick with old blood, and it was hard to get a grip. Finally, he found purchase of the body's t-shirt, and he heaved. Takashi was thrown to the side as the Humvee jumped the curb and scraped a building, before Shizuka instinctively spun the steering wheel left. Hirano lost his grip on Takashi's ankles, and he was thrown onto the bonnet.

"Komuro!" cried out Hirano.

Scrambling for a handhold, Takashi grabbed onto one of the windscreen wipers. Grunting with the effort, he hauled himself further away from the asphalt that was zooming on mere inches under his feet.

Hirano reached out a hand, and Takashi grabbed it. He twisted his body, and with a single powerful kick, sent the torso flying off the windscreen. He could see Shizuka's face through the windscreen, and Rei's wide eyes as she screamed for him to move.

With a groan, Takashi pulled himself back onto the roof as Hirano moved back to make room. Almost instantly, the Humvee's course straightened up, before slowing to a stop.

Takashi collapse on the roof as everyone piled out of the vehicle, his arms shaking.

"Come on, Komuro," Hirano said gently, a grin playing on his lips.

The leader nodded, and slid off the roof and onto the ground, where Rei rushed up to meet him.

"Takashi!" She cried out, pulling him into a tight hug. Rei opened the back door to the Humvee, and got him to sit down.

"Can you walk?" Takagi asked, with rarely showing concern on her face.

"I only had to use my arms, my legs are fine," Takashi replied.

"Well, excuse me for being worried!" Saya shot back. Saeko was busy looking through one of the bags, and soon pulled out a dark blue t-shirt.

"You can wear this, Takashi," she said with a smile as she held it out to him.

Their leader blinked with surprise, but nodded and took the shirt.

"Thank you, Saeko-san."

Takashi didn't want to rest long. They distributed as many bags as they could between them, mostly carrying spare ammunition and clothes. Takashi quickly changed his shirt, and cleaned his hands, before the group set out on foot.

As they drew nearer to the school, the group was met with more and more members of the undead.

"There must be a lot of people at the school," Takagi reasoned. "They're drawn to whatever sound is coming from the people there."

Miyuki nodded. "I noticed the same thing when I was heading to the mansion."

Takashi rounded a corner, and stopped. There, at the end of the road, was Shintoko Third Elementary. The only thing in their way was a blockade and several clustered zombies.

Saeko limped over to where Takashi stood, drawing his attention.

"We may need to approach from a different route. We can't risk drawing more of Them to this area, for the sake of our safety and everyone's inside." She reached out and grabbed his hand, which made Takashi jump with surprise.

Saeko smiled, and tilted her head to the side.

"Problem, Takashi?" She asked slyly. Takashi shook his head slowly.

"…No?" His question-like answer made Saeko laugh quietly, and she pulled him back, much to Rei's displeasure. The group moved around a block of land, keeping a slow pace so Saeko wouldn't hurt herself, and so they wouldn't attract any unwanted attention.

Soon enough, the group came to an impressive wall, constructed from heavy traffic barriers.

As they approached, Hirano smartly went up to one of the traffic barriers, and gave it an experimental push.

"They're heavy." He reported. "Full of water, I think."

"They wouldn't use their drinkable water for something like this…" Takagi mused. "It must be waste water, or contaminated water."

Takashi nodded thoughtfully. "They'd be good at keeping Them out – They're not smart enough to get over them all. But it wouldn't stop people."

"Those at the school are actively petitioning for other survivors to join them, if what you saw at the police station is anything to go by." Saeko pointed out.

"Yes… but if they _want _people to come to the school, they must have some way to confirm if they've been infected or not." Miyuki alluded quietly.

The group all nodded, having come to a similar conclusion.

"In that case, look alive people!" Takashi called out and began to clamber over the barrier. Saya actually smacked her face with the palm of her hand, and the others groaned before following their leader.

There were three rows of barriers to get across, which didn't take too long. There was another stretch of asphalt before the school fence, with absolutely nothing else between them and their destination. The asphalt had splotches of blood all over it, some human shaped, as if bodies had fallen into puddles of the stuff. They cautioned forward, unconsciously lowering their weapons in an attempt to prove that they weren't dangerous.

It was when they were about 50 meters from the fence that it happened.

There was a sudden blinding flash, which stung Takashi's eyes and messed with his vision. He adjusted just in time to see an answering flash from a window in the school, and suddenly there were a dozen police officers running from the building and lining the street in front of them.

Clad in black and blue combat gear, the officers seemingly simultaneously raised their black weapons to point straight at the newcomers.

Everyone froze, their hands instinctively shooting into the air.

"Don't take a step closer!" One of the police officers called, his reddish hair blowing in a slight breeze.

"Have any of you been bitten?"

Takashi choked on his words as he forced himself to represent the group. It would be too cruel to die like this after everything that had happened.

"No! We're alive! One of us has a sprained ankle, but we're otherwise unhurt! We're not infected!"

The officer's face relaxed only slightly.

"State your names and ages."

Takashi yelled back.

"Alice Maresato, 7 years old! Shizuka Marikawa, 27 years old! Saeko Busujima, 18 years old! Saya Takagi, Kohta Hirano, Miyuki Arakawa… Rei Miyamoto and me, Takashi Komuro, all 17 years old!" He cried back, pausing a little as he remembered that Rei would have been in the year above him, though she hadn't had her 18th birthday yet. He pointed to each member of the group as he listed them.

"Miyamoto?" The officer repeated, quieter. He turned back to the school and raised a mirror. He caught the sunlight, and he flashed it back to the school, waving it side to side three times in some kind of message.

The group slowly lowered their hands, uncertain as to what they should so. Miyuki cautiously picked up Saeko's crutches where they had fallen to the ground, and handed them back to the indigo haired teen.

Soon enough, another police officer ran out from the building, but this one was unarmed. He had jet black hair and amber eyes, and the other officers stepped out of his way as he rushed past. The officer staggered to a stop, his eyes wide and excited.

Rei froze. She took an uncertain step forward, before she broke into a full sprint, screaming and laughing with joy. She threw herself into her father's arms and began sobbing uncontrollably, as Tadashi Miyamoto clutched his daughter to his chest and laughed to finally be reunited with her.

* * *

**H.O.T.D. Season 2: Human or DEAD**

* * *

After a minute or so, Miyamoto senior finally pulled back from his daughter and looked up at the rest of the group. By this point the police officers had relaxed, their weapons no longer pointed at the group.

"…Takashi? Is that you? God, you look so different…"

Takashi stepped forward and greeted Rei's father.

"It's good to see you, Miyamoto-san," he bowed respectfully, knowing full well how much power the man had over the group now. Rei's dad was likely leading whichever survivors were in the school, and so it was because of him that they could evacuate. Not to mention, Takashi had met the man several times before, and was much more comfortable talking to him then he had been to Saya's parents.

He and the rest of the group covered the distance between them and the Miyamoto's, but stood back a respectful distance as Tadashi continued to clutch Rei tightly.

Tadashi fixed him with a level gaze. "Have you been taking care of my daughter?" He asked firmly.

Takashi blinked, slightly surprised by the question.

"Uh, well, I guess-"

"He has dad, right from the beginning," Rei assured her father, her eyes flicking over to Takashi momentarily before she returned to drinking in her father's face, almost as if she were re-memorizing the sight of it.

Tadashi nodded thoughtfully, before he gently pulled away and strode over to take Takashi by the hand.

"You have my deepest thanks, Takashi-kun." Miyamoto-senior shook his hand firmly, and Takashi nodded in return.

Tadashi turned his gaze to the rest of the survivors, half-noting the slightly bitter look on Saya's face.

"You should all come inside – everyone will be happy to see you."

Shizuka thanked him humbly, casting her eyes to the ground with a faint blush. Saya noticed, and elbowed her in the side with a sly grin, which nearly knocked the buxom nurse over.

Takashi moved closer to Rei's dad, and asked in a low voice: "Is… is my mum here?"

He noticed Tadashi's eyes flicker over to the left, and a shadow pass over his face. But before Takashi could despair, the man grinned. That was more than enough of an answer for Takashi.

He stilled, suddenly over-come with the realization that he would see him mother again. After all this time, he hadn't realised how hard it would be to say hello.

Saeko limped past him, beckoning him forward. As they neared the doors – which had been bolted down and secured with the best measures available to the school – Saeko paused.

Her eyes flickered to the left. Her face paled and her eyes widened.

"My God…" Miyuki whispered.

Takashi turned to the left, and felt his gorge rise.

Rows upon rows of little multi-colored bundles lined the school's oval, stretching behind the building and out of their field of vision. The bundles were white, blue, red and green. Some of them were covered in floral patterns, other with random geometrical shapes. Some of the bundles were tablecloths, some curtains, others linen and carpet. They looked as if they had been completely soaked through from last night's rain. Almost none of the bundles were bigger than Alice.

Hundreds of little children lay dead on the Shinktoko Third Elementary school oval, all wrapped in whatever material could be spared.

Behind them, Shizuka quickly turned Alice away so she couldn't see the rows of children's bodies, faceless and unknown in the mid-morning sun.

Those little people would be cold and clammy, wet and slimy to the touch after the rain, and the decomposition process would be sped up. It wouldn't take long until the bodies began to reek as mold and decay set in.

_Those poor children… _Shizuka despaired to herself, clapping a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from throwing up.

This time Tadashi didn't spare the dead children a glance as he explained the situation to them.

"It happened so quickly – according to reports, the school was quickly overrun by the infected. As you could see… many people were killed, including the majority of the staff. As far as elementary school's go, this is one of the largest in Japan." Tadashi filled them in.

"Statistically speaking, there would be roughly 300 – 320 elementary students per school," Saya thought aloud. "So how many students went to the school?"

"It was around 600," Takashi said sullenly, nearly overwhelmed by the thought of all those dead children.

"That's twice the size of a typical school!" Saya exclaimed. The rest of the group also had expressions of surprise mixed with disgust on their faces.

Tadashi nodded solemnly. "And because the population was so dense, those monsters took over quickly. There was nowhere for them to run after they got inside the building."

As he spoke, the group stepped into the building's canteen.

"If you want to know more about what happened, you'd be better off asking someone who was there, Takashi-kun." Tadashi said with a weary smile, pulling Rei back into his arms.

Takashi looked at the man with a quizzical look, before he heard a voice.

"T-_Takashi…?"_

Takashi froze. He looked up slowly, and made a choked noise in the back of his throat.

There, standing on a step, was a woman with chocolate brown eyes. She wore her hair in a spikily cut fringe, and the rest of her heavily layered brown hair extended halfway down her back. She had quite tanned skin. She was quite young for a mother, maybe in her late 30's. Her eyes filled with tears and her cheeks flushed.

"Hi, mum." Takashi said weakly. Azumi Komuro laughed and ran towards her son with open arms. He stepped forward to meet her, and was nearly bowled over as she threw himself into his arms.

Azumi showered her sons face with kisses, and Takashi didn't have a trace of embarrassment within him. He hugged her tighter, somehow surprised at how much shorter she was than him. Takashi was only just about 6 feet tall, but his mum only came up to his shoulder. He hugged her closer, resting his head on her shoulder and buried his face against her neck.

"I've missed you," he whispered to her, his voice betraying his relief and fear. Azumi drew back and reached up a hand to his face, cupping his cheek lightly.

"God knows I've been worried about you. You look so old!" Azumi laughed again, but it sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"It's only just been over a week mum," Takashi smiled, albeit grimly.

Azumi felt her heart clench as her son tried to reassure her. Her little boy, already so very grown up.

"But how much have you _grown?" _She asked him. Takashi's eyes widened at the question, before his expression settled into a fond smile.

His mum may have only been two or three years older than he was when she had him, but she had always been wise beyond her years. Unfailingly, if he had had a problem that he went to her with, Azumi would always provide an answer that would make Takashi consider the deeper meaning of what he was dealing with. He knew his mother had been worried about him prior to the outbreak. He had stopped coming to her with problems, and his grades had begun slipping dangerously low. Azumi had thought it was a result of his father going overseas, but she had begun to suspect something else soon enough. What though, she wasn't sure.

"Way more than I should have," he finally answered. Azumi's smile faltered, but she hugged her son tight again

"I love you."

"I love you too mum."

After a long moment, they pulled apart. Azumi peeked around her son's shoulder to see the rest of the group behind a little way back. The _really _busty blonde woman had picked up the little girl who had her arms around the blonde's neck. The girl was too big to be held like that really, but the woman didn't seem to mind.

Behind them was a shorter, chubbier boy with chin length hair next to Saya Takagi. Azumi hadn't seen her in years, but it was wonderful to see her alive and well. To the left of them were two girls, one with indigo hair, and one with red. The purple-haired one was supporting her weight with crutches, and conversing quietly with the red head. Azumi inadvertently caught the purple heads blue eye, and the girl dipped her head in imitation of a bow. Azumi nodded back with a smile.

Azumi openly grinned to see that Rei and Tadashi had been reunited. She was a close friend of Tadashi's, and Azumi had spent a large amount of time will the police officer, helping him strategize, clean up and prepare for evacuation.

"Who are your friends, Takashi?" She asked with a grin, and he turned back to his friends with a dazed expression, as if waking from sleep.

Takashi cleared his head with a quick shake, and introduced everyone to his mother. Everyone bowed lightly to her, and Azumi returned the favor.

"Thank you all for taking care of my son," Azumi thanked them fervently.

"Well actually, Komuro-san, he's been taking care of us." Hirano grinned.

"We made him our leader," Saya explained smugly. "He's been making a lot of decisions to keep us safe."

Azumi blinked, and turned back to her son quizzically. Takashi's sheepish smile sent a wave of pride crashing through her, and she felt as if she may burst into tears again.

_He's such a good kid, _Azumi thought to herself. _Scratch that… he's grown up. Takashi is a man now._

She smiled again, but it wavered as a thought occurred to her.

_Where is Hisashi? Takashi never had a closer friend…_

Takashi's happy expression fell as he watched his mother think. Azumi suddenly turned back to the group, her eyes fixing on Miyuki. She turned back to her son again.

"…Hisashi?" She asked quietly, so the others wouldn't hear her. Takashi lowered his gaze and shook his head. Azumi wanted to scoop her son up in a hug again, but held herself back. She would have time to help him now that they were reunited. And that Miyuki… surely she was Hisashi's step-sister, the one she had heard about but had never actually met. God knows how they had met up, but she didn't want to start a chain reaction of mental breakdowns by being too nosey.

"Come on," Azumi addressed the group. "I'll show you where you can store your gear and bunk up. Everyone's been helping out, even the kids after school, so we'll find you something to do to prepare for the evacuation."

Takashi was glad. He wanted to do his part to help – here, it was recognised that every pair of helping hands was needed. But still…

"What do you mean 'school'?" Hirano asked curiously as they began walking, leaving Rei with her father.

"We still run lessons for the kids. They… they're from a range of year levels. The youngest is six, and the eldest is twelve. We've got one class of thirty."

Azumi's voice cracked as she revealed how many students had survived. Takagi frowned.

"How many staff members are left?" She asked, brusquely, as was her nature.

"Two others, and myself." Azumi replied shortly.

The genius quickly ran the numbers in her head.

_Thirty three survivors in a school of 600. That means 5.5% of the people here survived. _It was a grim realization.

If she translated that percentage of survivors to the population of Fujimi High School, which had had roughly 1500 students and staff, then it could be reasoned that 273 people had survived. Discounting members from their group, and, as she thought about it, Shido's group, that was 260 other survivors from Fujimi.

Saya felt sick in the pit of her stomach. There was no way that many people had survived the carnage at Fujimi. The people at Shintoko Third Elementary had been _lucky. _Saya wondered if there were students still holed up at the high school, quickly going crazy as they hid and wasted away. She felt her gorge rise, and she stumbled.

Suddenly, there was a hand around her waist. Saya looked up with clouded hazel eyes, straight into Kohta's face.

"Are you alright, Takagi-san?" He asked concernedly. She felt an unorthodox smile spread across her face. She straightened up (with Hirano's help) and pushed him away, albeit gently.

"For the last time, I want you to call me by my first name," she admonished, barely managing to raise her voice.

Hirano frowned, before smiling.

"C'mon Ta… Saya-san. We have to stay strong."

Saya blinked, before her cheeks mysteriously flushed red.

"Ah, I know that baka!"

She stormed ahead of him, leaving Hirano trailing in her wake.

It was at that moment that they reached the classroom. There were three children who looked to be about 6 or 7 years old chasing each other around the room. Shizuka set Alice down, and the girl peered curiously at the new children.

"Boys! Shouldn't you be in class?" Azumi reprimanded them, placing her hands on her hips.

"Iie, Koko-sensei! It's our break!" One of the boys with dark hair and big green eyes cried out.

Azumi crouched in front of them, and fixed each child with a sharp gaze.

"Is that the truth?" She asked sternly. The green-eyed child raised his hands in front of him, clenching his fists as he nodded forcefully.

"It is!"

Azumi grinned, and stood back up. "Alright then, I trust you. Can you boys go play in a different classroom, maybe in the library? These people are going to be using this room until we all leave, alright?"

The boy nodded, and was leading his friends out of the room when he stopped, and looked up at Takashi. Takashi wasn't all that familiar with kids, save having known Alice for a few days, and so he didn't do anything other than look back down at the kid and wave sheepishly.

The boy looked from Azumi to Takashi, before pointing his hand at the befuddled teenager.

"Sensei, he looks like you." The boy declared.

Azumi grinned, and patted him on the head.

"Well noticed, Mori-chan. This is my son, Takashi, whom you've heard of."

"Him?!" Mori exclaimed, his eyes widening. "But he's got a gun!" Mori's hand turned to Hirano. "Him too!"

To Saeko. "And she's got a big sword!" To Miyuki. "And she has _two!"_

Azumi's smile faltered. Her eyes skimmed the group as if she was only noticing the weapons they had strapped all over them for the first time.

"They're good people, Mori-chan. They carry those guns to keep themselves safe. They won't be needing them anymore." She comforted the child, but her words had the opposite effect of the group. Saeko's hand instinctively clutched her Murata blade tighter.

Saeko did not for a second think that anyone would try (let alone succeed) to take her katana away from her. But this blade was precious to her, a link to her father and a reminder of the promises she had made both to herself, Soichiro Takagi, and to Takashi. And it was folly to think that there would be no more need for it. There would be hardly a day from here on in when she didn't wield her blade. The thought made her smile.

"Go and play, Mori, but make sure you go back to your lesson! Don't forget that I am your teacher too!" Azumi declared.

"Hai, sensei!" Mori cried, before running out of the door with his friends. As they passed Alice, the girl stepped out in front of them. She brought her hand to her hair as she twisted it nervously.

"Ah, um. Could… could I play with you too?" Alice looked up with large hopeful eyes that instantly threw Mori off his game. The boy beamed, and reached out a hand.

"'Kay!"

Before Alice took it, she looked up to Kohta, silently asking permission. Hirano smiled gently, and nodded that she should go and enjoy herself. Alice hugged his leg quickly, and ran away with the boys.

After she'd gone, Azumi turned back to the group.

"You girls can take this room to sleep in tonight. You guys can either take the room adjacent, or shack up with some of the other guys. We've got another classroom free to use for lodging, in the hopes that some more survivors come to the school." Azumi explained.

"How many people have arrived?" Takashi asked his mum. There had been people that they had seen when they entered the building, but he had been way too distracted to get a feel for how many people were here.

"The majority of the police force that were on shift 'That Day' are here… although not all of them made it." Azumi paused with a frown.

"You'll need to talk to Tadashi for the exact number, but as far as I know, there are over 300 people here." She concluded.

_Three hundred… Three hundred people out of all the hundreds of millions in Japan…_

Of course, Tokonosu was just one city, but to think that there were only three hundred people that would be evacuated from the city was grim. It was highly unlikely that any other survivors would have the opportunity to evacuate after tomorrow afternoon.

Saya couldn't help but think of her family, and what had become of them. Her mother and father had been going to take responsibility for the water and electricity of Tokonosu, but she didn't even know if they were alive. The last time Saya had seen her parents, they had been fighting side by side, shooting and slashing at a horde of undead that had seemed endless. They could be corpses by now.

Saya was shaken out of her reverie by Takashi asking his mother a question which had been bugging all of them for the past day.

"Mum, after the outbreak did you ever go back home?" Takashi asked earnestly. Azumi frowned.

"No. I stayed here and took care of the children before helping with the cleanup and rehabilitation effort. I knew it wouldn't be any safer in the residential area, so I didn't bother. Why…?"

Takashi paused.

"We went home, looking for you. The place was a mess. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the kitchen, and the car was gone." He explained.

Azumi shook her head. "I never went back to the house. My guess is that someone busted in there looking for food."

Saya nodded looking thoughtful.

"All the non-perishable food was gone. But don't forget, Komuro, there was a note from Miyamoto-san in the master bedroom," she said.

"A note from Tadashi?" Azumi enquired.

"Hai," replied Takashi. "It was on your wardrobe."

"But… that doesn't make any sense." Azumi looked genuinely confused.

"Tadashi never went to the house."

The group stilled. "What do you mean?" Takashi choked.

"After he and the other police officers left the station, they came straight to the school to look for survivors and to facilitate the evacuation. Tadashi would have definitely told me if he checked our house." Azumi looked worried, almost ill at the thought of someone pretending to be the police officer.

The group exchanged looks with each other, shocked.

"Then…" Saeko spoke up.

"Who left the note from Miyamoto-san?"

* * *

**Act 6: Elementary School of the DEAD**

* * *

_Hello there, the angel from my nightmare  
The shadow in the background of the morgue  
The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley  
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want_

Where you can always find me  
And we'll have Halloween on Christmas  
And in the night we'll wish this never ends  
We'll wish this never ends

Where are you and I'm so sorry  
I cannot sleep I cannot dream tonight  
I need somebody and always  
This sick strange darkness

Comes creeping on so haunting every time  
And as I stared I counted  
The Webs from all the spiders  
Catching things and eating their insides

Like indecision to call you  
and hear your voice of treason  
Will you come home and stop the pain tonight  
Stop this pain tonight

Don't waste your time on me you're already  
The voice inside my head (I miss you miss you)  
Don't waste your time on me you're already  
The voice inside my head (I miss you miss you)

* * *

Takashi and Azumi strode quickly down the school hall, wasting no time. They had to confirm if Tadashi had gone to their house and left a note to the group or not.

As Takashi and his mum entered the canteen, it was apparent that it was empty.

They turned quickly, and Azumi suggested they try the principal's office, which was where head organization had been taken up. Tadashi spent most of his time in that room these days.

He wasn't there either.

As two men walked past, carrying a large fold out gazebo between them, Azumi asked if they knew where Tadashi was.

"The policeman? He and his daughter went to his room. I'm glad they found each other," replied the first man with a grin. The second didn't look so chipper.

"I'm pretty sure he was going to tell her the news." He said grimly.

A shadow fell over Azumi's face as she thanked the two of them, before taking off at an even greater pace than before.

"What news?" Takashi asked. Azumi said nothing.

"Mum, what news?" He repeated, his voice rising.

"That's not for me to tell you." She said brusquely.

They were soon at the door to yet another classroom, but inside they could hear someone crying. It was a heartbreaking sound, decidedly female, and shaking as if the girl was having trouble breathing.

Azumi hung back.

"It would be best if we waited- _Takashi!"_

Her son didn't wait. With dread in the pit of his stomach, he pushed the door open. Rei was sobbing broken-heartedly as her father fought to keep back his tears. He was clutching his daughter so tightly that it looked like it must hurt.

Rei looked up with blurry red eyes as Takashi stepped into the room. Her mouth quivered, and she tore away from her father and threw herself into his shocked arms.

"T-T-Takashi! My mum… she's dead!

* * *

Hi guys.

Thanks a bunch to **The Queen of Water, Guest, kactaplb **and **Guest NO.2 **for reviewing. And to everyone who has faved/followed the story as well! 18 Favs and 25 alerts! Please review and tell me WHY – I really want to know! You guys are great :D

To Guest: Thank you very much, I hope you like this chapter too!

To Guest NO.2: Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you gave this story a chance even though it contains OC's. I try my best to update as quickly as I can, and I'll get to work on the next chapter ASAP.

I'm trying to get all the names right, now I'm dealing with a Takashi, Takagi and Tadashi! Please tell me if I screw the names up somewhere, lol.

_The Meaning of the Names: _Azumi Komuro

Takashi's mother's name was never disclosed in the canon. As such, I created a name for her for the purpose of this story. So, Azumi is not an OC – she just has an OC name I guess you could say.

Azumi = Safe residence. I chose Azumi because I wanted to associate a mother with safety and comfort, and a safe residence is what the group found in this chapter.

(I changed the summary, for reasons)

Please review!

* * *

**NEXT: ACT 7: DEAD Teachings **


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